‘We’re making substantial progress on our strategy’: Nexora CEO

Clive Fitzharris discusses the distributor’s M&A ambitions, regional growth strategy and plans following the sale of the business

Dublin-HQ distributor Nexora is preparing to restart its acquisitive strategy across Europe while continuing to build on its footprint in North America.

Speaking to CRN, CEO Clive Fitzharris says the business has deliberately paused its M&A activity over the past 18 months while progressing the planned sale of the organisation but expects acquisitions to return to the top of the agenda once a new owner is in place.

“We’re making substantial progress on our strategy,” he says.

“We haven’t been as acquisitive in the past 12 to 18 months as we’ve been focused on preparing and finding the right new owner for the business.

“But a fundamental part of our strategy, when we get that new owner on board, is to really start that M&A machine in Europe again.”

The comments come after Nexora completed a strategic transformation that saw it dispose of its IT distribution operations, including Exertis IT, and rebrand the wider group around its professional technologies business.

According to Fitzharris, the shift positions the business to capitalise on increasing demand across professional AV, audio and specialist infrastructure markets.

Nexora’s return on the acquisition trail

While North America makes up for around two thirds of the group’s top line, Fitzharris insists Europe remains a key growth market.

He explains that Continental Europe and the UK will play an important role in the firm’s acquisition strategy, which reportedly builds on a model that has already transformed Nexora’s North American operations.

The distributor entered the region only eight years ago through its buyout of Montreal-based Jam Industries but has since established itself as the market leader across professional AV and pro audio.

“We’re a natural acquirer for a lot of the businesses that are in our space,” says the CEO.

“We have some very interesting opportunities that are waiting in the wings.”

The firm serves around 34,000 customers globally.

Those customers fall into three core groups: systems integrators and installers, corporate resellers and specialist retailers.

Nexora’s sale process remains on track

Progress towards Nexora’s planned sale also continues to gather pace.

The CEO tells CRN discussions with prospective buyers remain positive and expects an announcement before the end of the calendar year.

“I’ve been spending a reasonable amount of my time meeting with potential partners,” he says.

“High-quality discussions and high-quality partners reflect the quality of the business.

“It’s progressing in line with plan, and certainly that timeline is entirely correct.

“We’ll have something to announce before the end of the calendar year and maybe a lot sooner than that.”

Once the transaction completed, Fitzharris says the business intends to combine organic momentum with M&A while continuing to invest in its commercial organisation, technical expertise and marketing capabilities.

“My ambition is, in the medium term, that we’re at least double our size,” he highlights.

“Maybe not necessarily in terms of turnover but in terms of market reach and market presence.”

North America momentum returns

Although tariffs disrupted trading during the early part of the last financial year, Fitzharris says the business recovered strongly as customer demand returned.

Most of the disruption followed the US administration’s tariffs, which temporarily slowed purchasing activity across parts of the North American market.

“A lot of the pipeline just built up, and then we serviced the pipeline through the back end of the year,” he says.

The recovery contributed to improving profitability despite broadly flat revenue in constant currency.

“Our first quarter, which has just ended in June, has been really strong and progressive,” Fitzharris says.

“The growth that you will have seen in our profitability in the prior year, we’re on par and ahead of that in the current year.”

The strongest momentum has come from the group’s audio operations alongside Hammer, its UK business focused on storage, components, custom-built servers and AI infrastructure.

The exec also says Nexora has avoided the supply constraints affecting the industry.

Despite ongoing memory shortages, he says long-standing vendor relationships have enabled the company to secure sufficient product allocations.

“We’re quite happy with the availability of product,” notes Fitzharris.

He adds that while higher pricing has softened demand in some consumer and prosumer segments, enterprise investment remains strong.

Worldwide ambitions

Outside its two largest markets, Nexora continues to export into LATAM, the Middle East, Africa and APAC.

But Fitzharris explains that expansion beyond Europe and North America is not an immediate priority.

“We have the ability to really replicate the scale and the success that we have achieved in North America and Europe over the very near term.

“That will be our focus.”

For Fitzharris, maintaining the company’s specialist approach will remain central to that growth.

Rather than broadening its proposition, he says Nexora will continue investing in technical expertise, sales capability and specialist market knowledge while expanding its geographic reach.