Jp Trails

This is terrible news for our industry, with the looming economy small companies are really struggling. Earth roamer had a truly high end unique product that quite possibly could be picked up by a larger company that could move the brand forward. Only time will tell stay tuned!

http://www.bcbr.com/article.asp?id=102626

EarthRoamer files for bankruptcy
By Business Report Staff

October 20, 2009 –
LAFAYETTE – EarthRoamer, a company that transforms trucks and jeeps into customized off-road recreation vehicles, has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy.

The Lafayette-based company founded in 2002 by Bill Swails and Michelle Connolly, listed $234,556 in assets with more than $6.8 million in liabilities to its creditors at the time of its bankruptcy filing on Oct. 5, 2009.

The largest unsecured creditor is the U.S. Small Business Association, which guaranteed $5.3 million in loans to the company. Locally, the bankruptcy filing lists EarthRoamer owing $72,547 in taxes to Boulder County, $11,339 to Boulder-based Kelty, and $10,188 to Longmont-based Advanced Machining Inc.

Officials with the company could not be reached for comment as of Tuesday morning.

EarthRoamer’s filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy indicates that a trustee will liquidate the company’s assets to best pay off its creditors.

A case of bad economic timing likely contributed to EarthRoamer’s troubles. The company aggressively expanded just prior to the sharp downturn in the U.S. economy.

In 2007, the founders purchased a property at 1460 Overlook Drive in Lafayette and built a 56,000-square-foot headquarters. The property is owned separately from the main company, under the Roamer Holdings LLC name headed by Swails and Connolly, and it is not part of the latest bankruptcy filing.

EarthRoamer reported an income of $640,504 that year, and it won a 2007 Boulder County Business Report IQ Award in the sports and outdoor category.

The next two years weren’t so friendly. According the bankruptcy filing, EarthRoamer reported a loss of $829,643 in 2008 and a loss of $758,117 to-date in 2009.

Most of EarthRoamer’s vehicles, which blend jeeps and trucks with RV camping attributes, sell for more than $100,000 each.

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