Computer 2000 AG, the Munich-based wholesale microcomputer products distributor, is about to announce pan-European supplier agreements with at least two major computer manufacturers, said co-president Steve DeWindt at the 1993 EuroChannels conference in Paris late last week. We have contracts with big manufacturers that we’re not yet ready to announce. We’ve been doing business with two of them for the last six months and we’re in negotiation with four others. We should be announcing these soon, DeWindt told Computergram. Computer 2000, which reported 1992 revenues of $1,100m, anticipates 1993 revenues of between $1,600m and $1,700m, DeWindt said. He said the increased horizontalisation in the industry and the push among computer manufacturers to cut costs has made them more interested in subcontracting their purchase of third-party equipment. Digital [Equipment Corp] did a study that showed they spent $2,000m a year on third-party products. The overhead for that activity, in terms of purchasing and contract managers and in the cost of disposing of excess inventory, has caused them to look favourably on giving the whole activity over to someone else, he said. In other news, DeWindt said the company’s Italian subsidiary, EIS/Computer 2000 SpA, has been solidly profitable this calendar year, since it took 100% control of the company in March 1992 and undertook a restructuring. The subsidiary was originally a software publisher and re-publisher, which had an overhead that was too costly for a mainstream computer products distributor, he said. Last year, we finally got approval from the courts and were able to cut our overhead. There were rumours at the time that we were closing our doors, but we were just making ourselves profitable. We’re very pleased with the turnaround; the results are very strong, DeWindt said. For the future, Computer 2000 has several projects under way. It is talking with companies in the US about a potential entry into that market, plans to unbundle its service and support from its product offering in Europe and will be installing a new computer system. Computer 2000 has remained in Europe until now because the US stock market places a higher value on computer distributors than do European stock markets, making European distributors cheaper to acquire, DeWindt said. Approximately 60% of Computer 2000’s subsidiaries were acquired, he added. He cautions, however, that we’re just talking right now. A year ago in Europe, the company began phasing in separately priced service and support because it could no longer afford to bundle them. By October, almost nothing will be for free, regardless of country, he said. To manage its multiple revenue streams, the company is planning to install Walldorf-based SAP AG’s business management software, beginning in January in its German subsidiary.
