Beta Distribution goes bust, with 69 job losses

Deloitte has been appointed as administrator for the struggling distie

Weeks after confirming multiple credit insurers had withdrawn cover, Beta Distribution has gone into administration, CRN has learned.

In a statement to CRN, Deloitte have confirmed that Clare Boardman and Richard Hawes, restructuring partners at the company, have been appointed as joint administrators of the £180m-revenue distributor.

Beta has made 60 of its 100-strong workforce redundant, along with nine employees at Content Wall, the AV company it acquired in June.

"Beta Distribution has been experiencing increasing competition in the consumables market and this has placed it under a degree of liquidity pressure and has restricted the availability of credit to their suppliers," Boardman stated.

"It is a large importer of products from Europe and has, amongst other pressures, experienced issues with foreign exchange rates.

"Despite interest from a number of parties, no sale of the overall business was achieved and the directors took the decision to place the business into an insolvency process."

For its financial year ending 31 March 2017, London-based Beta saw turnover of £186m and net profit of £950,000, but last month extended its current accounting period, according to papers filed on Companies House.