Steljes splits as part of corporate restructure

Distributor becomes four separate companies in a move to bring more clarity to the channel

Audiovisual distributor Steljes has split into four separate companies as part of a major corporate restructure.

Martin Large, managing director of Steljes, told CRN the firm has operated as one company since 1997.

“We have now decided to create separate businesses and are in the process of hiring managing directors for each. The new divisions will all have their own management boards and will trade independently,” he said.

Steljes Trade is the reorganised distribution sales arm. The new structure will support resellers specifically selling into verticals such as education, corporate/SME, public sector and home.

Steljes Markets will work with end-users to help develop the market for resellers. Steljes Technical Services is essentially a repair centre and Steljes Managed Services is the hire department, rebranded to cover more than just dry hire.

“Most firms are merging all their divisions under one umbrella, but we have decided to do the opposite. The move is designed to bring more clarity. For example, we have had a £2m rental division for the last two years that has been overshadowed by the trade arm of Steljes. We wanted to maximise the opportunities that exist in the hire business,” Large said.

“It would be great if we could have the new management teams in place by the end of September, but we would rather get the right people on board than rush it.”

Large also revealed that there will be two more companies added, but said these were in their infancy. “One will focus on training and the other on software. We have been selling hardware for years and decided it was time to focus on software as well,” he said.

Colin Messenger, senior business consultant at Decision Tree Consulting, said: “I think it is a positive move. To keep up in such a competitive and fast-moving industry, distributors need to continually add value and offer more services, otherwise resellers will go elsewhere.”