Most of Exertis Supplies’ staff are set to lose their jobs, despite it closing in on a potential sale to rival VOW Wholesale.
According to multiple sources, VOW is in advanced negotiations to buy the supplies specialist after it was put up for sale by Exertis UK in December as part of rightsizing efforts.
But according to a Measures Letter, the contents of which have been communicated by staff to IT Channel Oxygen, VOW is proposing to acquire the stock and customer list only, and to close its Elland site.
It intends to keep on just 28 of its 186 staff, all of whom would transfer to its Normanton HQ, the Measures Letter said.
A source close to events stressed that VOW’s Measures Letter is merely a proposal of what it plans to do after it acquires the business under TUPE regulations. There are also no guarantees a sale will go ahead.
Interest from EVO
The news comes ahead of the slated conclusion of Exertis UK’s wider 45-day consultation process at midnight this Friday.
To recap, the UK’s fourth-largest IT distributor put all – or nearly all – of its circa 1,200 staff at risk of redundancy at the start of December following the completion of its sale to international private equity house AURELIUS.
At the start of the process, it proposed to go forward with just circa 130 staff, a number which multiple sources tell us has since risen to around 170 (although it could change again before tomorrow).
Hopes that more jobs could potentially be saved emerged when Exertis UK put various divisions, including Supplies, up for sale.
Based in Elland near Huddersfield, Exertis Supplies distributes business supplies ranging from ink cartridges, printers and computer accessories to hot drinks, furniture and face masks.
Last Friday, these hopes were raised further when staff were told sale discussions were progressing with VOW Wholesale owner EVO – with a transaction set to happen this week.
“Too upset to work”
News of the potential loss of 158 jobs is therefore “not the outcome we wanted”, an employee rep acknowledged in an email to staff, communicated to IT Channel Oxygen.
One employee said they’d seen several staff crying yesterday after the news was broken verbally to them.
“When EVO were mentioned, a lot of people were saying, ‘why would they want an Elland warehouse when they’ve got a massive warehouse at Normanton’, so it’s obvious this would happen,” they said, talking under the condition of anonymity.
“A lot of staff just want to get paid, and get out. But there are people who have been here for years that are really upset. Some went home because they were too upset to work.”
The 28 roles VOW is proposing to keep are all sales or commercial ones.
Exertis Supplies has opened a new voluntary redundancy window, meaning some staff could leave before the TUPE transfer completes on 9 February.
Judging from the green banners on LinkedIn, scores of staff at the wider Exertis UK business – whose main sites are in Basingstoke and Burnley – have already chosen to take multiple redundancy rather than sit out the consultation process.
Those remaining with the business are set to learn of their fate at the start of next week.
Despite multiple attempts, IT Channel Oxygen failed to reach either VOW Wholesale or EVO.
Exertis UK declined to comment.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
