Afic to maintain the Elonex brand
Applied Film Industries Company will rebrand its products under Elonex name
The Elonex brand will live on after consumables supplier Applied Film Industries Company (Afic) unveiled plans for the troubled system builder.
CRN predicted last week (CRN, 3 July) that Afic was nearing a deal to buy Elonex. The Elonex name, business and assets have now been sold to Afic for an undisclosed sum.
Yuval Ella, managing director of Afic, told CRN: “Elonex sits perfectly within our offering. Afic is now rebranding all its products under the Elonex name.”
Ella added that Afic is looking to provide a more complete offering to the combined customer bases of Afic and Elonex.
“Ninety per cent of our customer base are FTSE 100 companies and government agencies,” he said. “We can now provide our customers with hardware, printers and stationery, alongside additional services.”
Ella added that Afic will own the rights to all of Elonex’ ongoing warranties, and the firm’s emphasis will be to add services on top of the margin-pressured hardware market.
Neville Kahn, a representative for Elonex’s administrators Deloitte and Touche, said: “Conclusion of this sale provides a platform for the [Elonex] business and workforce to prosper.”
Deloitte and Touche also confirmed the remaining 48 employees of Elonex will keep their jobs.
Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at Quocirca, said: “There is a cross-selling opportunity for Afic. Elonex is a well-established firm with a strong name, but cross-selling is only a short-term thing.
“This is an interesting move because Afic is in consumables, where margins are good and it has bought into low-margin commodity PCs. It is usually the other way round.”