Widget goes for growth

Bullish distributor eyes £38m turnover next year

Linksys and TomTom distributor Widget is on the growth path

Widget managing director Joanne Foreman has ambitious growth plans for the specialist distributor after her first full financial year (FY) in the role.

The Stevenage-based firm, which works with vendors such as Cisco [Linksys consumer range], 3M and TomTom, posted flat results for its FY 2009 of £32m, compared with 2008, but this was due to losing an account with Amazon worth £12m last year, Foreman said.

“To finish the year flat after that is still quite an achievement and shows we managed good growth and profit was actually up,” she said. “We are aiming for £38m turnover next year.”

Foreman joined the distributor in 2008 from Canon, and said she was determined that if she worked for distribution, the emphasis would be on value-add.

“When I worked in vendors I saw distribution as an inevitable part of the supply chain and was often frustrated in what I saw. It was important for us to be able to offer genuine value-add for both our vendor and retail customers,” she said.

“We are not afraid to get our hands dirty at director level if it means doing the best job.That is our point of differentiation: we will go the extra mile.”