Evesham takeover: Q&A

 

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Posted on 7 Aug 2007 at 13:43

As we reported yesterday, it's been a troubled week for Evesham Technology, who announced a £10m rescue deal on Friday, only to later announce the company has gone into administration.

Earlier today, PC Pro caught up with Evesham's managing director, Richard Austin, to get the inside track on what's actually happened at the company. We asked him about the situation for customers who've ordered PCs from the company, those who have outstanding warranties and the involvement of former Time Computers directors in his new-look business.

Can you tell us exactly what's happened to Evesham Technology over the past week?

Evesham went into administration by way of what they call a pre-pack arrangement whereby we were bought out of administration and we were able to effectively recommence trading quite quickly.

The acquiring company has made arrangements that all the warranties, the support etc are honoured.

We're able to slim down the operation more in keeping with the sales volumes we're now hitting post the demise of HCI [the Home Computing Initiative scheme that was suddenly pulled by the Government last year, on which Evesham depended for much of its revenue].

So you're no longer in administration?

The old company, Evesham Technology Ltd, is in administration. The company that's trading now... we're not trading in administration, no.

So you're now Geemore [the company set up by Mr Austin and his new partners on July 20]?

Geemore Technology, which will have its name changed, is trading as Evesham Technology. It has a licence to do so from PCC Technology - who are the people that provided the finance to buy it out of administration.

So the company will have its name changed?

Ultimately we don't want it to be called Geemore. It will be changed to an Evesham related name.

Why start a new company instead of just investing into Evesham Technology?

The investment required would have made the deal unsustainable. That's what we were looking for all along - an investment to keep Evesham Technology Ltd as was. However, we couldn't find anyone willing to do it.

This was the best to way to avoid everyone losing their jobs and everyone losing their warranties. That was my biggest fear - all the people that have bought from us would be let down in terms of support and warranty. When this option came along, this was the way out.

Can you tell me who's running the new company? Are you still in charge?

Yes, it's very much me in charge.

Do you foresee that continuing or are you there just for the handover?

No, I'm continuing... We're really going to move it forward again. It's been very difficult during a period of time where we've been going downhill, we're all looking forward to going uphill.

The two gentlemen involved [in the new company], Mr Mohsan and Dr Mohammed, have some history in their dealings with Granville Technology [former owners of Time Computers]...

Let me clear that up. First of all it is Tahir Mohsan and not Dr Mohammed. Secondly, Tahir Mohsan is a Dubai-based businessman that had emigrated and wasn't connected with Time when they collapsed. He was a founder of the Time brand and was instigational in the takeover of Tiny when they collapsed. But by the time the Granville Group collapsed he was long gone. He was based in Dubai and no longer a director or shareholder in that company.