Azlan faces exodus as concerns mount

Audit continues at distributor following suspension of shares, leading to nagging worries among staff and vendors alike

Azlan is struggling to hold on to staff this week after vendors and staff expressed uncertainty about the suspension of its shares.

The audit of Azlan?s accounts continued last week in the wake of its share suspension on 13 June. Nine staff have recently resigned from the distributor, with five leaving within the past 10 days. Among the resignations were credit control manager Andrew Wilson, account manager Pippa Griffin, production manager Tariq Ahmed, Mike Dunkley from Digital sales, account manager Richard Murphy, John Jacobs and Chris Vic from pre-sales, and Mark Russell and Nick Edmonds from internal sales.

One distributor said: ?There are CVs flying around everywhere. We have had a number of approaches. The whole industry is worried about what is going on despite Azlan?s assurances.? He added that the company had been approached by Azlan?s customers because of the uncertainty.

One financial analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that Azlan?s figures had been affected because the distributor had overestimated its marketing rebates from vendors.

Ed Arnett, MD for Northern Europe at Azlan, conceded there was a ?little bit of tension [while] the company was down on its luck?. But he pointed out that no senior managers had left out of 350 staff. He said he was confident that the distributor would continue to grow and succeed.

Arnett blamed vendors and resellers? uneasiness on the amount of time required to carry out the audit. He was adamant that the problems surrounded the use of its accounting system and the reconciliation of every item in the accounts.

He claimed Azlan?s credit situation was ?pretty good?, adding: ?We are not on hold with anyone.?

Arnett said he hoped that the results would be known within two weeks and added that an announcement would be made on the operating and group boards next week.