C2000 pays #1.2m to acquire Eurodis

Distribution Purchase to increase market share for Intel products.

Computer 2000 has acquired Eurodis OnBoard and is revising its range of product lines in a bid to strengthen its components sales.

C2000 purchased the PC components distribution subsidiary of Eurodis Electron for #1.2 million. The Eurodis acquisition improves C2000's market share and expertise in Intel-based products, giving it access to 2,000 PC systems builders and reseller customers in the UK.

Sven Mahon-Daly, general manager of PC components at C2000, said: 'We've been doing well with natural growth this year, but to accelerate that growth we started looking at acquisitions. Of the companies we looked at, Eurodis was the best fit.'

Mahon-Daly claimed C2000's share of the local Intel components market will increase to approximately 40 per cent following the Eurodis acquisition and in-house expertise will be strengthened by the addition of more staff.

He refused to rule out further acquisitions, but said the distributor is hoping to grow its market share across its product ranges.

As part of its renewed emphasis on components distribution, Mahon-Daly predicted that several under-performing product ranges will be culled from C2000's stock list. He would not specify which lines were likely to go, but admitted that C2000 has about 80 per cent of the key vendors it wants.

Mahon-Daly indicated that C2000 plans to secure distribution rights for the OEM lines of Microsoft Creative Labs OEM. Of the 22 staff previously employed at Eurodis OnBoard, he said most have either transferred to C2000, been redeployed within Eurodis or left to form their own company. He said there would be some redundancies.

Eurodis Onboard - which last year generated revenue of about #25 million - had been integrated into C2000's PC components division from 15 February.