Hardware trader ICP goes bust after HPE spat

Trader which lost £1.95m High Court showdown with HPE last summer has gone into administration

International Computer Purchasing (ICP) has become the latest hardware trader to fold, following a legal bust-up with HPE last summer.

HPE was awarded £1.95m by the High Court last July after it was concluded that ICP fraudulently obtained more than £1.5m of discounts on HPE products, although ICP strongly denied any wrongdoing.

According to a notice in the London Gazette, Leonard Curtis was appointed as administrator of the Stockport-based firm on 6 February.

A filing on Companies House states that creditors including Cisco voted against a proposal for a company voluntary arrangement on 18 January.

ICP, whose website positions the firm as a buyer and seller of Cisco routers, switches, wireless gear and IP phones, is the latest in a growing line of hardware traders to go out of business or reinvent themselves.

Other recent casualties include Stockport-based K2 IT, which was liquidated in September following a settlement with Cisco, and Manchester-based Gen-X IT, which folded last January, again in the wake of legal action from Cisco.

Others such as Manchester-based DP Data have moved into authorised distribution. Another Birmingham trader, Gamma Global, went under in early 2015 after efforts to overhaul its business proved fruitless.

ICP's switchboard number was not answered and Leonard Curtis did not return our requests for further comment.

Alex Tatham, UK managing director of HPE authorised distributor Westcoast, said HPE's legal win against ICP shows that its brand protection team is "bearing its teeth".

"I think HPE have taken action across a number of partners, so it's not surprising that some partners have been as adversely affected as ICP," he added.

Andy Dow, UK marketing director at Tech Data, added: "It's a reflection of the times that the top vendors in our industry are really taking having a clean channel very seriously, and that's got to be good for us all."

One hardware trader, who wished to remain anonymous, predicted that the grey market body count would continue to rise.

"Cisco and HP are definitely monitoring imports aggressively," he said. "If anything, I see more companies disappearing or moving into something else as they are being monitored all the time."