The peripherals and supplies division of Bytech Computers Ltd was acquired last Monday in a management buy-out from Electron House Plc. Electron House, distributor of computer systems, electronic components and services, has been restructuring heavily over the past couple of years and has been intent on disposing of non-core activities. It was eager to get out of the high volume, low margin computer hardware and consumables market and so, when inevitably Bytech Peripherals’ turn came to go, its management seized the opportunity to buy, rather than go through acquisition by some unknown quantity. Bytech Peripherals was the largest of the businesses carrying the Bytech name, with turnover amounting to some UKP61m this year. The other two operations, Bytech Systems, also formerly part of Bytech Computers Ltd with sales of UKP10m, and Bytech Components seem set to remain with Electron House for the foreseeable future. The Bytech Peripherals management team paid UKP5.1m for the acquisition as well as taking on UKP4m of debt. Financial backing came from investment capital groups 3i Plc, County NatWest Ventures Ltd and Midland Montagu Ventures Ltd. The new company still has the right to use the Bytech name and is to be called Qudis Bytech Ltd, the Qudis somewhat cryptically standing for quality distribution. Likewise, the Bytech cheetah is still to feature in a refashioned logo; not only at Qudis though. Confusingly enough for the marketplace, the other Bytech operations are to keep it as well. Bytech started life as a private company under the name of Sintron Distribution, but was bought out in 1979 by South Africa’s big Thomas Barlow Holdings Pty Ltd conglomerate. Barlow Holdings gave it the name Bytech Ltd. The company operated primarily as an Intel Corp distributor, selling semi-conductors and single board computers. Between 1985 and 1987, major growth occured, following the gain of a franchise with Hewlett-Packard Co and the peripherals division changed status from dealer to wholesaler. Electron House bought the company in 1987, but by 1989 had split it into three separate divisions, peripherals, systems and components. The peripherals operation currently sees 70% of its business focussing on printers, 20% on supplies and spares, and 10% on such hardware as personal computers and, in recent times, monitors. It claims to be the largest UK printer wholesaler, with a market share of approximately 9%, and boasts some 35 or so franchises with such names as Hewlett-Packard, Brother Industries Ltd, Eastman Kodak Co and Logitech Inc. The company sells their products to computer dealers, value-added resellers, computer superstores, mail order companies, office equipment dealers and on the OEM market. Qudis’s aims for the future are quite simple. It intends to remain one of the top five printer distributers in the UK, the other four being Chessington, Surrey-based Northamber Plc, Rossendale, Lancashire-based P&P Distribution Ltd, Basingstoke, Hampshire-based Frontline Distribution Ltd and Santa Ana, California-based Ingram Micro Ltd. It wants to become the number one distributer of supplies at the present moment, it is number two. And it is looking to move into other peripherals areas, such as networking and related products including modems, disk drives and tape drives, where margins are seen to be good. Success in the UK market is currently top priority, but expansion into Europe in a few years time has not been written off entirely.
