Midwich sends senior head down under

Mark Lowe to fly out to New South Wales following IDT acquisition in August

Midwich is packing off one of its senior managers to Australia to act as a go-between with its newly acquired Antipodean venture.

Mark Lowe will fly to New South Wales next month following the distributor's purchase of a majority stake in video and data display outfit Image Design Technology (IDT) in August, its third acquisition outside the UK.

Midwich bought Irish distributor Square One in 2009 before snapping up French outfit SIDEV in 2010 but was persuaded to splash its cash further afield due to IDT's growth potential, said Midwich divisional director Darren Lewitt.

Founded in 1998, IDT has about 20 staff and works with vendors including Samsung, NEC and Magenta Research.

"Australia is not seeing the recession that some other countries are and I do not feel there are many, if any, proactive distributors there," Lewitt (pictured) said.

Lowe, who currently spearheads Midwich's UK consumer display business, will begin an open-ended secondment at IDT to help the firm integrate into the Midwich culture.

Lewitt said: "When we bought SIDEV two and a half years ago, we sent Tom Sumner over to liaise between Midwich and SIDEV to ensure the core values of Midwich were taken on board and to share experiences. We are doing a similar thing with Mark in Australia, and he will stay for as long as it takes."

Lewitt said that, culturally, IDT is similar to UK acquisition True Colours due to its technical bent.

In a statement, IDT founder and managing director Gerry Wilkins - who is staying on at IDT - said: "Our partnership with Midwich allows us to expand our product offering and act as a one-stop shop for our customers' audio and visual needs.

"The acquisition will also help us increase our investment into the local marketplace, from adding technical resources, improved stock levels, marketing materials and training programmes, so that we can fully equip and support IDT customers."

Lowe's responsibilities will be assumed by Matt Skilton, Lewitt added.