Avnet proposes Leeds closure in cost-cutting restructure

Distributor pledges to minimise staff impact during 30-day consultation, while co-sales chief Paul Cook stands down

After completing a review of its UK operations, distributor Avnet Technology Solutions is undergoing a restructuring process and is proposing to shut its Leeds office in a bid to take costs out of the business.

The firm wis looking to consolidate its northern operations into its sites at Warrington and Haslingden and relocate a number of staff currently based in Yorkshire, a location Avnet acquired through its buyout of rival Bell. Staff whose jobs are potentially at risk will enter a 30-day consultation period.

Avnet UK and Ireland country manager John Toal (pictured below) expressed sympathy for the affected employees, and stressed that the distributor will work to lessen the impact on them.

"These are difficult business decisions, and we regret the impact that this could have on our team and their families," he said. "We will be working with employee representatives to try to minimise this impact. We remain committed to investing in the areas of our business that are driving growth for our business partners and supplier partners.

"At the same time, it is imperative that we are decisive in taking action to rebalance our resource requirements accordingly. We will look to take costs out where necessary and at the same time invest in value-creating organic and M&A growth initiatives."

As part of the restructure Paul Cook, who joined Avnet from Bell and was subsequently named as one of the distributor's three UK sales directors, will depart his role today.

His co-sales chief Matt Tedstone is to be given a role overseeing areas where Avnet claims to be posting strong performance. This will include enterprise storage and services vendors IBM; Oracle; NetApp; HDS and Symantec.

Meanwhile Laura Harman, the third leader in the sales triumvirate, will add HP - formerly part of Tedstone's brief - to her existing remit of networking, security, storage, wireless, mobility and Microsoft.

Toal added: "Paul has brought considerable value to the business through his passion and loyalty to Avnet and its customers. He and I have been discussing his intentions for some time, and I am pleased to confirm that he has agreed to remain in the business until the end of the calendar year."