Evesham Technology up for sale

Written by Tim Smalley

February 22, 2008 | 14:48

Tags: #austin #for #founder #geemore #richard #sale #technology #time #up

Companies: #evesham #uk

PCC Technology has announced that the restructuring of Evesham Technology, the troubled UK PC builder, has been successfully completed.

Tahir Mohsan, the owner of the Dubai-based investment company and founder of Time UK, said in the announcement that, "We are pleased with this investment and what we have been able to achieve, not just in terms of return on investment, but the structuring of the deal in such a way to minimise the adverse effects of an insolvency situation on consumers and employees alike."

Richard Austin, founder and former Chairman of Evesham, left the company last month, having decided to take a break from the IT industry. PCC gave Austin the opportunity to buy the restructured Evesham Technology back, but Austin turned the deal down saying, "the UK consumer electronics market is exceptionally tough, as highlighted by the poor performance figures of the DSG Group over the Christmas period. I guess that having spent the last 25 years in the industry and given the past 12 months, I just don’t have the energy required to make the most of the exciting prospect that Geemore presents."

Mohsan explained that it is his intention to find a buyer for Geemore Technology Limited, the company that owns the Evesham brand, and confirmed that it had been offered to Austin. "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," he added.

Mohsan also revealed that past Evesham customers only received free product support until earlier this month – all customers are now expected to have to pay for support with Total Care and Support, another company with links to the Time UK founder.

"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 explained.

With this announcement, it's difficult to quantify exactly what is left of Geemore Technology because, according to PC Pro, the administrator's report on Evesham Technology issued in October revealed that the company's assets were sold to a selection of companies—some of which had ties to Mohsan.

From my perspective, it looks as if Geemore has been restructured in such a way that it's incorporated into all of Mohsan's existing investments meaning that, even after a sale, he'll continue profiting from the company unless it is restructured again. I'm definitely not comfortable with Evesham customers having to pay for support now, but I guess it's better than no support at all. Still, one would expect support to be a part of the service provided when someone buys a product from a company for at least a reasonable amount of time – once that period is finished, paying for extended support is acceptable of course.

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