The High Court has refused an application for examinership by seven companies controlled by developer Liam Carroll.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke said he will give his reasons for his decision tomorrow.
However, he severely criticised the way in which certain figures have been presented to the court by the companies.
In a packed High Court this afternoon, Mr Justice Clarke applied a scalpel to the independent accountant's report which formed the backbone of Zoe's case for examinership.
Posing in-depth questions, Mr Justice Clarke said the accounts were 'either presented in a very poor way or just plain wrong.'
He said he took a 'very serious view' of how the company presented its income figures. He said there were 'many inaccuracies in the material'.
He said he had intended delivering a written judgement, but was unable to deliver it because of the additional clarifications made by Zoe today.
However, Mr Justice Clarke said the clarifications had not influenced his view, but had in fact strengthened it. He refused the application.
His judgement will be delivered tomorrow when he will also hear winding up proceedings against two of Liam Carroll's companies by the Dutch-owned bank, ACC.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six-One News, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said he welcomed today's clarification from the High Court and said it showed the need why the National Assets Mangment Agency was needed.
He rejected suggestions that the case would threaten the setting up of NAMA.
Seven companies in application
Seven companies ultimately owned by property developer Liam Carroll were part of the application for examinership. But it had been argued the future of the 51 companies in the wider Zoe Group is dependent on their survival.
The companies have debts of €1.2 billion but under a business plan submitted as part of its application, Zoe believed it could meet its debts over a three to five-year period. Part of the plan included the non-payment of interest for two years on its debts, owed to eight banks.
The application was opposed by ACC Bank, which is owed €136m. It was supported by the property developer's other lenders as well as trade creditors.
Zoe's original application was turned down by the Commercial Court. An appeal to the Supreme Court was also rejected. This unprecedented second application was permitted on the basis of new information presented to the High Court.
