Distie hatchet makes Tulip wilt

Dutch manufacturer Tulip Computers looked in dire straits in the UK last week as Northamber ditched it, following in the footsteps of Midwich Thame, Merisel and Micro Peripherals.

The distributor community agreed that problems between Dutch and UK management were the probable cause. A senior source at Northamber said: 'Another one bites the dust. The problem with Tulip is that there are factions within the boardroom and that's why it has had so much trouble. It swings between the two factions and that's why it comes and goes.'

Jonothan Sultan, marketing manager at Tulip UK, confirmed there was a rift. 'We have fallen out,' he said. 'A letter was sent to Northamber last Monday.' Neil Grayston, MD at the company, refused to comment as PC Dealer went to press.

Northamber signed a deal with Tulip because it had promised to keep volumes up. 'We were supposed to sell badged and unbadged products to dealers,' the source said. 'That extra manufacturing never arrived. It came, it went and it never conquered.'

Midwich Thame briefly held the tenure as a Tulip distributor towards the end of last year. Midwich Thame MD Nick Pye agreed it was difficult to deal with the company. 'We stepped in after it had a problem with Merisel and abortively tried to sign Micro Peripherals.

'We encountered problems with margin. The products changed very quickly and we never saw product from week to week.' He said large sales volumes never materialised.