Pope parts from Bytech Systems

The team that took the company through its MBO is now down to three

One of the original management buyout team at Bytech Systems has left the company after a clash with MD Ken Moss.

Alan Pope, formerly sales director at Bytech, left the company sometime in the past 10 days. Moss refused to comment on the move, but sources understand the company has found a replacement for the sales role, who started last week.

The four original members of the buyout team were Pope, Moss, marketing director Andrew Cloney and financial controller Mike Gallagher.

The team formed Bytech at the beginning of this year after a decision by parent company Eurodis Electron to divest non-core businesses.

A Bytech insider said: 'I think Alan was of the old school and the IBM task calls for different approaches. Ken Moss has always been a leader from the front. He's the dynamite at Bytech. He's a very direct kind of guy.' He said the two individuals did not see eye-to-eye over a number of interests.

At the time of the buyout, Moss claimed that Bytech would grow the business by 100 per cent to #26 million in the financial year 1995/96 (PC Dealer, 10 January). Evidence of Bytech's financial progress will be released in February with its results.

The company distributes IBM RS kit, software, Intel servers and ALR machines, although over the past year that relationship has been through some peaks and troughs.

Bytech Systems received a boost last year when IBM insisted on pushing its low-end RS/ 6000 machines through two-tier distribution.

Norwood Adam, the other distributor for ALR servers, has shifted the majority of machines during the past two years.

Jane Tabor, channels manager at the RS division of IBM, could not comment on the personalities at Bytech.

'Bytech continues to do very good business for us,' she said.