After completing a thorough review of its UK business, Avnet has determined it necessary to remove costs relating to business services that no longer align with the needs of its partners and/or suppliers to the extent that they are prepared to pay for them.
John Toal, vice president and country manager, Avnet Technology Solutions UK and Ireland, commented, “These are difficult business decisions, and we regret the impact that this could have on our team and their families. We will be working with employee representatives to try to minimize this impact. We remain committed to investing in the areas of our business that are driving growth for our business partners and supplier partners. At the same time, it is imperative that we are decisive in taking action to rebalance our resource requirements accordingly. We will look to take costs out where necessary and at the same time invest in value-creating organic and M&A growth initiatives.”
Previous acquisitions have added Avnet locations in the north of the UK. As part of the restructure, the company proposes to consolidate its three northern offices to two. This would mean servicing its northerly-based business and supplier partners from its offices in Warrington and Haslingden, where it will look to relocate the remaining Leeds-based employees.
The restructure brings changes to the roles and responsibilities of Avnet’s three UK sales directors. Laura Harman, currently responsible for networking and security, storage, wireless and mobility, and unified communications will take on responsibility for Avnet’s HP business. This will enable Matt Tedstone, enterprise sales director of Avnet Technology Solutions, UK, to focus attention on areas where Avnet is currently seeing strong performance, including storage and services. Paul Cook, responsible for general sales, will stand down from his role at the end of June.
Toal continued, “Paul has brought considerable value to the business through his passion and loyalty to Avnet and its customers. He and I have been discussing his intentions for some time, and I’m pleased to confirm that he has agreed to remain in the business until the end of the calendar year.”
Avnet will now enter a 30-day consultation period with the employees affected by the planned restructure.