Datrontech receivers sell Portable Add Ons

Datrontech co-founder Ian Boyle has teamed up with two former directors of the company to buy Portable Add Ons from the receivers for £400,000.

The rest of team include Portable Add Ons MD Steve Muttram, and former Datrontech FD Steve Antrim and the deal was transacted through a small telecoms company called Liberty Communications.

The trio are also talking to receiver Touche Deloitte about buying the assets of the rest of the company - in other words the £6-7m worth of stock, rather than the debts.

The front page of yesterday's CRN reads more like an obituary column than a trade paper, with three of the four stories covering bust companies. First up is Datrontech, the broken distie. Rival Northamber is supposed to be interested in buying the company, according to "industry rumours".

Next up is Honeyframe Corporate Computing, a Telford-based reseller which is seeking a Creditor's Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to pay back creditors. Two sister businesses, Honeyframe Computer Holdings, and Honeyframe Software Development, are trading as normal.

And finally, in late news, those industry sources are back again with news that "receivers are hovering over Manchester-based reseller Ravelle". IBM has a mortgage interest in the firm.

i2-b has launched a free

for European computer hardware distributors and resellers.

Features include: a database of 1000 top European computer hardware distributors and PC builders; links to the top European trade magazines; press research information; links to channel news sources in Europe; links to Asian manufacturers; a list of the top European trade shows.

Leeds-based data storage distie Intechnology has appointed UBS Warburg to advise it on moving from AIM to the main market.

The company, run by Peter Wilkinson, one-time owner of Planet Online, has £31.3m cash, of which £23.3m net of expenses was raised at its AIM rights issue and share placement in July 2000. The company will use some of this money for acquisitions, maybe in Germany.

InTechnology specialises in the wholesale of so-call enterprise storage systems. It aims to open a network of data-storage colocation centres in the UK and Europe.

The company made a PBT of £1.5m on sales of £29.9m between July 24 to September 30. After goodwill it lost £400K. ®