Troubled C3000 faces final curtain

Components distributor Computer 3000 is in administrative receivership and has ceased trading, according to sources close to the company.

Components distributor Computer 3000 (C3000) is in administrative receivership and has ceased trading, according to sources close to the company.

Last week it was revealed that credit insurance giant Euler Trade Indemnity (ETI) had pulled C3000's cover - believed to be worth about £750,000 - and had issued the company with a nil-endorsement notice that removes any discretionary cover it provides. C3000 was reported to be seeking funding from its major backer, IBM.

The Surrey-based company, established in 1998, launched B2B4U.com, its new web-based trading scheme for resellers, in March and had boasted turnover of £61m for the financial year 2000.

But marketing manager Colin Yeates last week admitted that it was a "delicate time" for the company, and added that it was in daily talks with ETI. No one from C3000 or ETI was available for comment at the time of going to press.

IBM is now believed to be on the verge of appointing a firm of receivers - expected to be accountancy firm Grant Thornton - to oversee the operation. Both firms were unable to comment.

Brian Burke, Computanet manager at financial business information specialist Dun & Bradstreet, said: "ETI took action because they felt it was applicable. Obviously ETI must have had its reasons, but its actions certainly had an impact on C3000."

The news came at a time when credit insolvency specialist Pannell Kerr Forster (PKF) issued a gloomy statement warning its reseller and distributor clients to "be careful and to consider both formal and informal arrangements when faced with trading difficulties".

Nitin Joshi, a director at PKF, claimed that the pattern of insolvency will continue for "many months".

"The year began with few formal insolvencies, but the last fortnight has produced an unhealthy pattern," he said, adding that the reasons are "mixed, with unsatisfactory trading performance resulting from continued margin pressures".

"This in turn leads to credit insurers taking actions to reduce their exposures," he added. "The banks and factoring companies are equally nervous."

Also published in Computer Reseller News