Paradise lost fight to survive
Reseller goes into administration after HP writ
Borehamwood-based reseller Paradise Computers has gone into administration a few weeks after receiving a High Court writ for UK trademark infringements from Hewlett-Packard (HP).
Ending industry rumours that the two firms were about to make an out-of-court settlement, Paradise appointed Shay Bannon and Tony Nygate of accountancy firm BDO Stoy Hayward as administrators late last week.
According to a BDO statement, the firm ceased trading on 13 September because of "financial difficulties".
Despite a turnover of £42m, Paradise owed £6m. Its assets will be sold and debts recovered to pay a number of creditors.
The majority of the firm's 46 employees have already found alternative employment, according to the BDO statement.
HP declined to comment on the specific case, citing legal reasons. However, Jos Brenkel, vice-president channels at the vendor, vowed to come down hard on grey-market offenders at a partner event in Italy last week.
"The grey market is a worldwide issue, but the UK is more open to cross-border sales because of the language and because it is a central hub.
"We are aggressively going after partners that abuse our pricing guidelines and dabble in the grey market. The more we do away with grey, the more margin we can bring back into the channel," he said.
Nitin Joshi, partner at insolvency firm PKF, which is representing a number of Paradise creditors, said: "This insolvency is unfortunate because I believe a settlement [with HP] should have been reached.
"As far as my clients are concerned there was no ageing of their claims. Paradise was up to date in paying what it owed."