Acer UK boss walks after five months in post

Acer confirms Gavin Parrish has left the firm and has been replaced by Preben Fjeld

Acer's UK country manager, Gavin Parrish, has left the business after just five months in the hotseat, CRN has learned.

The PC vendor confirmed in a statement to CRN that Parrish (pictured) has been replaced by current Acer Norway country manager Preben Fjeld but would not divulge the reasons behind his departure or where he is heading.

Parrish only took the reins of the UK business in January but had been at Acer since 2011 following seven years at HP.

One onlooker - who said news of Parish's departure only filtered out to channel partners this morning - suspected Parish was likely to have a job lined up at a competitor.

"Everyone knows Gavin's background, working in the computing area for a number of years. It's logical that he ends up at a competitor," they said.

In its latest quarter, ending 31 March, Taiwan-based Acer saw operating income more than double to NT$304m ($9.68m) year on year, despite seeing revenues fall 11.4 per cent to NT$67.95bn ($2.16bn). It attributed this to having an "effective product mix strategy" and operating expense control and inventory management.

According to IDC, Acer lost share in the EMEA PC market in Q1 after shipments in the region tanked 16.4 per cent to 1.76 million. It now has an EMEA marketshare of 8.7 per cent.

Acer said in a statement: "Gavin Parrish has left the business and has been replaced as UK country manager by Preben Fjeld. Preben will also continue to be country manager for Acer Norway."