|
|
|
12 Feb 2007
System integrator Watford Electronics entered administration last week, owing almost £8m, after 35 years in the industry.
Financial services firm Smith & Williamson was appointed as administrator on 7 February. On the same day, a company called Globally Ltd purchased the business of Watford Electronics. Companies House records showed that Globally Ltd was incorporated on 5 February 2007 and registered to the same address in Luton as Watford Electronics.
Nitin Joshi, founder of Channelmoney, which is representing about 70 per cent of Watford’s creditors, said: “Watford owes some £3.6m to the trade, and with what it owed to the family [who own Watford], then the deficiency is probably more than £8m. The assets are negligible in relation to the size of the company’s debt so dividend prospects to creditors are dismal.”
Joshi has been approached to provide strategic assistance to Globally, but said: “Clients need to know more about inter-company transactions, stock movements and details of the deal with the administrator and have asked me to call an urgent meeting.
“Directors tell me that they tried everything to reduce the damage, but clearly I need to know more about these actions.”
Tony Riccardi, general manager at system builder Mesh, said: “The news hasn’t come as a shock because we operate in a tough market. Credit insurers have been aggressive over the past year with IT companies.”
Jon Atherton, group vice-president, commercial, at distributor Enta Technologies, said: “It’s very sad to see such a channel stalwart go.”
In October Watford, which is managed by Shiraz Jessa, partnered with Microsoft, Intel, LG and BT Wholesale to launch what it claimed was the UK’s first out-of-the-box broadband and PC package, Redten Internet.
An industry source told CRN: “Watford had been in financial trouble for some time. Redten Internet was going to be its get-out clause but it didn’t really take off.”
As CRN went to press, the Redten web site was still up and running, but could not process any orders due to “maintenance problems”.
Watford Electronics was unavailable for comment.
Related articles
In this video find out about the fast-growing Chinese vendor's plans for market domination and how the channel is its route of choice
Find out what gifts Acer has in store for partners for 2012 in this exclusive roundup of its recent conference
CRN's premier networking event is back on 17 May at the Ricoh Arena
Date: Thu 17 May 2012
Channel fighters preparing to square up once more on 24 May
Date: Thu 24 May 2012
The proliferation of endpoint devices within the enterprise has highlighted the shortcomings of one of the traditional approaches to data security
This Forrester report compares the costs and benefits of legacy email and productivity software with Google Apps
Dave discovers that rozzers are seemingly living in the technology dark ages
Mark Needham, founder of distributor Widget, argues that John Browett leaves for Apple with Dixons in better shape than when he arrived
|
|
|
Do you agree?
Have your say