Evesham sale imminent?
TimeUK tipped to takeover as more senior board members walk
Evesham Technology looks set to be on the brink of a buy-out, with TimeUK rumoured to be the strongest candidate to takeover the firm.
As we exclusively revealed a few weeks ago, Evesham's owner and chairman Richard Austin confirmed to El Reg that the UK computer vendor was in talks with several interested parties.
We also learned that the managing director and financial director at the Worcestershire-based firm, David Hards and Brad Walker, resigned on 14 June this year.
We now know from Company House records that two more senior members of the Evesham team, non-executive director Bill Joss and procurement director Shaun Morris, handed in their notice just a day later. Both men left Evesham on 27 June fuelling rumours that an imminent sale is likely.
The departure of four board members has left a gaping hole at the top with Austin currently listed as both company secretary and director.
TimeUK is believed to be in the picture after sightings of its founders Tahir Mohsan and Tariq Mohammed were made over the past few weeks at Evesham, according to reports. But no one at the firm was immediately available to comment on the rumoured buyout.
Austin also declined to comment on the latest revelations surrounding the current state of the company he founded in 1983.
He told us in June that the firm, which is one of the last indigenous British PC makers, had been hit particularly hard by the withdrawal of the government's Home Computer Initiative scheme.
However, he had been unable to confirm what a potential takeover would mean for some 300 staff.
One ex-employee told The Register: "The people who work there used to really care and be pasionate for Evesham to be the best of the last that cared." ®
COMMENTS
Just another sign of the times!
How sad to hear of Evesham's financial difficulties. Whether or not this is all down to the demise of the HCI initiative or just bad management we may never know. What is certain is that as with Dell's recent financial problems, it must all stem from a lack of profitability. The market dictates that we can buy a fully spec'd PC with a 22" wide screen monitor for less than £600. I just have! 15 years ago I bought a 486 PC with a 12" monitor and a 40mb (yes, MB!) hard drive for £1200! So what chance do any of the mainstream PC manufacturers stand when they are left making probably less than £50 per machine sold? Why should we be able to pay so little for so much when we are all earning far more than we were 15 years ago? The same thing has happened to the shoe industry and the car market. At the risk of shooting myself in the foot (pardon the pun) I am guilty of buying (Imported) leather shoes from Asda for £14 a pair when I should be buying British ones for nearer £50 a pair. As with new cars, the market is dictating prices and leaving the manufacturers and retailers no choice but to lower prices in a never ending downward spiral of reducing profitability. Eventually all the shoe factories closed (bar a few specialists), most large volume car plants have dissapeared, and it looks like we may lose a major British computer manufaturer if Evesham should go the same way. Let's hope Evesham can turn things around. I buy PC's and TV's from them, for both work and home and I have always found the products reliable and the company a pleasure to deal with. I fear a lack of public confidence will already have had an affect on their already precarious business. I wish them well in their recovery and will remain a loyal customer as long as they are there.
Re; Information Please
TBH Evesham are masters of the mushroom farming school of management. they were the same when i worked there, and by all accounts talking to friends, they still are. GL to all employees of 'sham
Information and consultation
Looks like the workforce needs to be organised in a union before it is too late.
Peter Skyte
Unite the Union
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