Avnet on track after merger, insists Watt

Avnet's EMEA head explains rationale behind Chessington closure

Graeme Watt: We want to keep people and their sensitivity at the top of the agenda

Avnet’s EMEA president, Graeme Watt, has hit back at criticism over the hand­ling of the Avnet-Bell merger, claiming it was “not possible to bury your head in the sand”.

The distribution giant has come under fire for closing Bell’s Chessington headquarters last week with the potential loss of more than 100 jobs.

“Bell staff were going to have to move out of Chessington at some stage next year anyway, but the options changed when we were bought by Avnet,” he said.

“Distribution cannot afford masses of under-utilised assets or space.”

Watt added that the distributor is “on track” with the integration process and insisted there had been “no lack of feeling for staff in the process”.

“In everything we do, we want to keep people and their sensitivity at the top of the agenda, but nobody ever said it was going to be easy,” he said.

By the end of 2010, Bell will have been integrated across six businesses, according to Watt, and by the end of Avnet’s fiscal third quarter, all the tangible elements of the integration will be complete.