Evesham brand up for sale - again

The troubles at PC assembler Evesham Technology continued today with reports that managing director Richard Austin has jumped ship and an announcement that the brand is being put up for sale.

Time/Tiny founder Tahir Mohsan's Dubai-based investment firm PCC Technology salvaged Evesham in a $22m (£11.3m) deal last summer when the PC builder went into administration.
He created a new company called Geemore Technology to sell under the Evesham brand with founder Richard Austin remaining at the helm.

But only a skeleton staff remained after a series of redundancies though Geemore insisted that it was still in business.

One source close to the company was quoted yesterday by our sister magazine CRN as saying: “Staff have been told to build what they can from the remaining components and it sounds like that will be it. The brand is damaged and no suppliers will support it.”

A statement from PCC technology said: "The manner in which PCC structured the deal enabled large numbers of staff to be retained by Evesham for an extended period whilst its operations were reduced in a controlled manner.

"This allowed many of Evesham’s staff to actively seek alternative employment whilst being employed, rather than being made redundant on the day of administration. Evesham’s customers also received free product support until early February."

The statement quotes Mohsan as saying: “It was no longer possible for Evesham to provide free support to its customers. However, PCC was conscious not to leave customers out on a limb without any support so has negotiated reduced rates with Total Care so that customers can take up support should they desire.”

Mohsan says that PCC had always intended to divest itself of Evesham in the future. "That time has now come. ‘Evesham’ is a very established and strong brand, standing for quality but affordable product with excellent customer care. It is hoped that notwithstanding the administration, the values that the brand stands for has been protected and it is hoped that ‘Evesham’ will continue long into the future.”

He claimed the company had been offered to Austin, who had "decided for his own reasons that this is not the right time for him."

Moham continued: "If a buyer cannot be found, Geemore intends to continue but the operation may be reduced to a smaller operation with lower overheads, in a controlled and responsible manner, whilst ensuring that customers are not affected.”