Westcon makes $1bn plan
Networking distributor looks to double turnover in Europe over by 2005
Networking distributor Westcon is planning to double its turnover to $1bn in Europe over the next two years.
The firm has been working to 'rightsize' itself following last year's acquisition of Dutch rival distributor Landis.
Ripples were caused in the networking channel when the firm decided not to take on Landis UK because it already had a presence here in the form of distributor Comstor.
Alan Marc Smith, Westcon's chief executive, said that it had been working hard to consolidate Landis and Westcon by working closely with resellers.
The firm plans to have one or two warehouses in the UK, one in Germany and one in The Netherlands, he added.
The firm, which is the distribution arm of corporate VAR Datatec, partners with vendors such as Avaya, Cisco, Nortel and Mitel.
Westcon Group European Operations was recently set up to manage the Comstor and Westcon subsidiaries across Europe, and has appointed the first of several new executives.
"About 38 per cent of total revenue is generated in Europe, but we aim to increase it to between 42 and 45 per cent in the coming year," said Smith.
He added that Westcon sees convergence, voice over IP and IP devices as "hot" areas for the future. "I also believe that Europe will continue to consolidate quite violently," he said.
Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca, said: "To move from 38 per cent to 45 per cent can be done in two main ways.
"Westcon can either really push, be totally aggressive and buy the market, or let the US operation collapse so that the European portion of the whole cake looks bigger, even if revenues stay the same.
"I can't see Westcon achieving this growth organically, especially in this climate, and it would be reluctant to lose focus on the US side of the business.
"However, Datatec has a pretty healthy cash position, so I would say that it is probably on the acquisition path again."