As exclusively reported by IT Channel Oxygen, Exertis UK on Wednesday sent shockwaves through the market by putting staff at its Business & Consumer and Supplies arms on notice.
The move comes a month after the closure of Exertis IT’s acquisition by German private equity house AURELIUS.
One of the UK’s ‘big four’ distributors, Exertis ranked 4th in IT Channel Oxygen’s recent 50 Must-Know Distributors and Marketplaces 2025.
Here we attempt to unravel some the big questions everyone’s asking in the wake of the news.
1. How many staff will leave?
Our understanding is that all – or at least nearly all staff – within Exertis’ main UK business (Business & Consumer and Supplies) were put at risk of redundancy on Wednesday (following the rumoured departure of key management last week).
A minimum 45-day consultation process will now ensue.
Although the cuts are being positioned as a rightsizing exercise, nobody (probably not even AURELIUS or management) currently knows quite how swingeing they will be.
This will only be determined after leadership and staff have been sounded out during the consultation phase.
On the crunch call, Director Jon Sutherland gave no indication of how many of Exertis UK’s 1,000-plus staff could lose their jobs, one employee on the call told us.
“He basically alluded to where the business wants to go, which is more of a consumer retail model. They want to dial down and be a small specialist. But he didn’t say anything about the exact size,” they said.
2. Are ALL staff impacted?
Yes and no. We understand all (or nearly all) staff at the main UK businesses are at risk.
But the rightsizing doesn’t appear to extend to the other businesses in scope of the AURELIUS deal. This includes Exertis Ireland and other UK-based brands that fall under its control (such as Hypertec, MTR and Zstorm).
In other words, it is the core UK brand that’s seen as the unsustainable business (at least after the recent issues).
3. Can it emerge a stronger business?
Exertis UK’s ability to do business has been seriously hampered since the main credit insurers moved to withdraw cover in August and September.
Can downsizing the business really convince them that it is credit-worthy under its new owner?
One source was hopeful, arguing that AURELIUS sees transforming Exertis into a smaller specialist as the basis to go back to the insurers with a new plan. “It will be a new game,” they said.
4. How did Exertis UK get here?
Despite coming to a head in late 2025, it’s fair to say that Exertis UK’s challenges have been bubbling under for years.
DCC saw the business as the less desirable, lower-margin part of its IT distribution empire – something to sell off quickly to protect the value of its higher-margin pro-tech businesses (which were this week rebranded as ‘Nexora’).
The UK business has seemingly lurched from one misfortune to another (including a racism scandal, a difficult SAP roll out, and the loss/disposal of its volume PC business).
This does not tell the full story, however. As recently as the summer, the UK business – which had won a string of awards around its approach to DEI and sustainability – appeared to some inside the business to be on an upward trajectory, both financially and in terms of morale. “There’s a lot of incredibly good people there and the sad part is I think some people thought they were coming through this,” one insider told us.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Canalys Founder and Informa fellow Steve Brazier felt energy conglomerate DCC had not been a successful custodian of the brand (which has its roots in Micro-P and Gem).
“It was never the right owner and held on too long, leaving Exertis outsmarted and overpowered by companies that lived and breathed tech distribution,” he said.
Viewed in this light – and adding in the recent credit woes – it could be argued that AURELIUS had little choice but to reposition the business on Day 1 (or more precisely, Day 30).
5. What are AURELIUS’ motives?
Despite being the question on everyone’s lips, it’s impossible to say.
The German private equity house’s name will forever be linked with The Body Shop, which went into administration just three months after AURELIUS acquired it.
It’s therefore understandable that some people in the channel I spoke to view it as a Richard Gere-style asset stripper.
At this stage, we can only take AURELIUS on its word.
A letter sent from Exertis UK to customers on Wednesday stressed that AURELIUS has “two decades of experience owning and transforming dozens of companies and helping them perform better under their ownership”.
“I believe there is an opportunity for us to change structurally and transform into a more agile and specialist distributor that can more efficiently and effectively serve your needs,” the letter read.
6. Did AURELIUS end up paying £100m for Exertis IT?
When it was announced in July, AURELIUS’ acquisition of Exertis IT had a stated enterprise value of “around £100m”.
With the business arguably worth less by the time it closed in November, rumours are rife that AURELIUS was able to renegotiate and pay less – perhaps even next to nothing.
After all, AURELIUS reportedly only ended up paying £3.5m for The Body Shop, having originally agreed to acquire the retailer for £207m.
In truth, The Body Shop is probably quite an extreme example. Given the subtleties involved in deals like this, it might in any case be tricky to even work out what money changed hands until a long time in the future.
7. What does it say about the market?
Exertis UK’s rightsizing is the latest in a string of catastrophic events for the UK IT channel in 2025.
Where usually the industry suffers one big business failure each year, the last 12 months has seen the collapse of Scottish MSSP Adarma (see here), leading channel services provider Agilitas (see here) and e-tailer eBuyer (see here).
Market conditions are finally catching up with many businesses who took on debt back when money was cheap.
Hundreds of staff at Exertis UK are likely to lose their jobs.
But after a dog of a 2024 and 2025, the market is starting to witness some signs of recovery, according to one source I spoke to in the wake of the news.
“We should remind ourselves that our industry is growing at 6% this year – it’s still not a bad place to be,” they said.
As we understand it, Exertis UK’s consultation period is likely to last more than the minimum 45 days.
It won’t be until at least late January that we will truly know what size and shape the business will take going forward.
In the mean time, all we can do is wish all staff the best during what will be a difficult few weeks.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
