OISG heading for liquidatation after creditors meeting

Owner says he is glad some former staff have found a new home at Fortem Information Technology

Reseller OISG Information Systems is to be liquidated following a creditors meeting on Friday, its owner has confirmed to CRN.

Canary Wharf-based OISG Group saw turnover hit as much as £21.8m in 2014, and once ranked among the UK's fastest-growing private firms.

It hit the wall last month after enduring a poor few months, according to sources.

Talking to CRN, OISG's sole owner Alan Edwards confirmed that Beesley Corporate Solutions was instructed to handle the liquidation at Friday's meeting, but would not comment further on the circumstances behind the firm's demise at this moment.

Several former OISG staff have found a new home at Fortem Information Technology, a "complete technology partner" which counts former OISG Group director Dominic Stowe as one of its two directors, Edwards confirmed.

"I was responsible for all the employees [at OISG] and I want those guys to be saved," he said. "I was asked by Dominic ‘would you mind if we went off with a few guys', and I had no reason to mind. [Fortem] is nothing to do with me, but I didn't want people to lose their jobs."

According to its LinkedIn profile, Fortem has between 11-50 employees and specialises in infrastructure solutions, cloud services, end-user computing, security, support services and IT financial services.

Jody Pawson, who ran OISG Information Systems on a day-to-day basis until Edwards assumed executive control of the business late last year, has also set up another reseller, Convergent Technology Limited. It was registered on Companies House on 11 January.

OISG Information Systems was one of five trading subsidiaries sitting under OISG Group.

Eddie Pacey, a former distribution credit executive who now runs consultancy EP Credit Management & Consultancy, said he felt OISG had "far too complicated a group structure".

"Some three years ago, I conducted credit risk management training for one distributor and knew this was one of their clients. I actually used the group's financial information to show them that close scrutiny of consolidated and individual group company financials can often reveal movements and events that would otherwise be masked or remain unchallenged."

Edwards declined to comment on the group structure or events leading up to the insolvency at this point.