Elonex brand suffers administration woes

The Elonex brand has had a short-lived resurrection under the management of consumables supplier Applied Film Industries Company (Afic), following the appointment of the administrators last week.

In June, Elonex plc went into administration after distributor Computer 2000 filed a winding-up petition against the system builder (CRN, 19 June). In July, the Elonex name, business and assets were then sold to Afic for an undisclosed sum.

However, last week Vantis was appointed as joint administrator to Afic’s Elonex business.

Geoff Rowly, client partner at Vantis’s Business Recovery Services group, told CRN: “While the new owners had attempted to turn around the business, the impact of administration in June had been far greater than expected and insufficient sales were generated. The business has now ceased to trade and we are seeking to realise value from the company’s assets for the benefit of creditors.”

Yuval Ella, managing director of Afic, told CRN: “Afic formed a company called K&S to buy Elonex and it is this company that has gone into administration. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the help from the previous Elonex owners that we were led to believe would be available to us. I invested a large sum of money from Afic to keep it going, but without the help that was promised I didn’t feel it was fair on my shareholders to risk taking it further.”

Darren Lewitt, divisional director at distributor Midwich, said he was not surprised the firm had continued to struggle. “We’ve still got a bit of Elonex stock left and are providing the warranties to customers ourselves,” he said.

>> Further reading:

Afic to maintain the Elonex brand

System builder Elonex finally sold

Afic picks off Elonex pieces