Watford to back memory venture

Nazir Jessa, Watford Electronics chairman and founder, is returning to his components roots with a venture into memory wholesaling.

The Jessa-backed company, called Memory Distribution, is to wholesale DRam and add-on cards from April. Jessa is currently hunting for premises around the M25/M4 corridor for the new distributor, which will be run entirely separately from his existing mail-order reseller business.

When asked how Memory Distribution was to be funded, Jessa replied: 'Nazir Jessa has never been a poor man.' He said it was too early to name franchises for the firm, as it was still negotiating with potential suppliers, but added: 'It should be signed and sealed soon.' Jessa is targeting first-year sales of several million pounds and plans to launch the company on the AIM market within two years. He said Memory Distribution was launched in response to an eight-fold rise in demand from Watford Electronics customers in the last 12 months. 'Memory prices are dropping dreadfully, but demand will continue to rise,' Jessa said. 'It's back to basics. We have a lot of knowledge in this market - components are our forte, as is selling memory.' Memory Distribution will not compete head-to-head against DRam market leader Datrontech, but 'we will be competitive', Jessa said. 'There is a huge market for memory, not just here, but in Europe and Africa, where we have many contacts.' Watford Electronics was set up in 1972 to sell electronics components by mail order. In recent years it has abandoned this market for computer and software reselling. The #24 million company will remain solely in private hands, Jessa said.