Northamber returns kit after ALR buyout

ALR confirms stock has been returned by distributor, but claims the action is a normal part of its stock rotation agreement

Northamber has returned all of the stock it purchased from Advanced Logic Research (ALR) following last week?s acquisition of the manufacturer by direct selling PC vendor Gateway 2000.

Several channel sources confirmed that stock had been returned to ALR.

One insider claimed: ?Northamber bought kit from ALR on promotional offer, which means it was not under price protection. Northamber then tried to return unsold stock, but ALR?s UK sales manager refused to accept it.?

It is believed that Northamber then decided to return its entire range of stock to ALR. It is not known whether Northamber?s decision to return the kit was also made because of Gateway?s purchase of ALR.

Julian Neath, ALR UK MD, said: ?The agreement is between Northamber and ALR and I am not going divulge details of that agreement.? He did, however, confirm that stock had been returned to ALR, but insisted this was as part of a stock rotation exercise.

?Northamber has done a stock rotation, it is allowed to do that, and that?s all it has done. It is exercising its rights,? he said.

Neath would neither confirm details of the kind of stock that had been returned, nor how much, claiming that it was ?end of line, across the board?.

Una Lewis, purchasing director at Northamber, was also unsure of the specifics of the return. She said: ?It?s year-end ? we are rotating stock all the time.?

David Phillips, chairman at Northamber, said: ?You can run any story you like on ALR, we are not going to comment.?

Gateway bought server manufacturer ALR for $194 million to boost its high-end portfolio, although the direct vendor claimed that ALR would remain as a separate subsidiary and continue selling through the channel (PC Dealer, 25 June).