Adventi Group ceases trading
Administrator PwC confirms winding up of Scottish reseller group
Shut up shop: PwC said finding a buyer for the remainder of the business was unfeasible
The Adventi Group’s administrators have confirmed that the firm has now ceased to trade following the acquisition of its IT support arm by a rival Scottish IT consultancy.
Administrator PwC announced weeks ago that it was holding discussions with a preferred bidder interested in acquiring the business and assets of Adventi.
The £16m-turnover company called in PwC last month amid reports that it had failed to reach an agreement with HMRC about paying off the remainder of a £200,000 tax bill.
Bruce Cartwright, Adventi joint administrator, confirmed to CRN that Castle Computer Services had acquired its beleaguered rival’s IT support arm.
“The sale of part of the business to Castle Computer Services was completed on Friday 30 April, resulting in the continuity of business services to customers and retention of a number of jobs for employees,” he said.
Cartwright added that it was not “feasible to achieve a sale” for the remainder of Adventi and that it has now ceased trading.
Alan Quinn, managing director of Castle, said his firm had no intention of keeping the Adventi name going and is now in the process of reviewing how many staff to keep on.
“Adventi was burdened by debt since day one, and Castle will offer their customers a greater level of value-added services, backed by a company that is financially secure,” he added.
Quinn said his firm will honour the prepaid contracts that Adventi customers had in place with the firm, provided they commit to a 12-month minimum support contract with Castle.
John Cardno, managing director of Adventi rival CS Technet, expressed concern over whether or not customers would be willing to commit to such a deal.
He said: “Customers may be better off just biting the bullet, take the loss, and change to someone completely different depending on the cost that Castle is going to charge for these new contacts.”