Insight Enterprises has dismissed rumours that it will close its Manchester office as mischief-making by rivals.

Manchester is the corporate reseller’s third largest UK base behind Sheffield and London, housing 66 staff, but several channel sources had heard it was to be shut.

However, Stuart Fenton, president for EMEA and AsiaPac at Insight, said there was no substance to the rumour and that Insight is actually set to substantially increase its headcount in the city.

“I can unequivocally confirm this rumour is not true,” he told CRN. “Our Manchester office is one of the most successful in the world and we are currently looking to expand that office, either in the current building or by taking additional space nearby.

“And we would welcome any competitors’ sales people in the region to come and join us.”

Microsoft large account reseller Insight employs over 700 people in the UK with approximately 300 each in the Sheffield and Uxbridge offices. Fenton said he would like Manchester to be a similar size within a few years.

Sources claimed that Insight’s UK and European business had come under renewed scrutiny following a change of top management in Insight’s native US.

However, Fenton also laughed this off. “The new interim chief executive [Tony Ibarguen] has been over to Europe, but his focus has been on growing the business and broadening the product and services portfolios in Europe,” he said.

Insight currently only sells hardware in the UK, US and Canada, but Fenton said the goal was to begin selling PCs, servers, printers and networking gear in about five continental European territories next year.