UK distributor, Entatech, has gone into administration after a buyer, Beta, pulled out of a deal to buy the company for a nominal sum at the last minute. Beta said that some issues had arisen during the due diligence that had caused the decision.
Entatech had been in trouble for some time. It was bought a couple of years ago when it had an unresolved problem over VAT issues. These appeared to be solved last year (Entatech Solves Dispute) although the firm continued to cut costs (Entatech Shuts Down Southern Office) and it looked as though the company might get out of the woods (Entatech Returns to Profit). However, the company lost a number of supplier contracts, including Fujitsu, and that is reported to have hit the cash flow.
Analyst Comment
Among the brands sold by Entatech was Hannspree and the Managing Director of Entatech, Dave Stevinson, is well known in the UK monitor business, having worked for CTX, Teco, PGE and Edge10 between 1994 and 2002. His attempts to rescue the company have been widely praised in the UK trade press, but he was not able to get over the legacy VAT problems, we understand. (BR)
