Exertis UK employees have told of their “utter shock” and sadness after being informed of its plans to cut headcount by over 90%.
As exclusively reported by IT Channel Oxygen, the distributor last week put all (or nearly all) of staff at its main UK businesses at risk of redundancy, following the departure of nearly all its top execs.
The move came a month after the closure of its sale to international private equity firm AURELIUS.
According to multiple employees that contacted us tonight, staff were today formally told of proposals to cut headcount from around 1,200 to just 130.
At the same time, LinkedIn is now awash with green banners from Exertis UK staff looking for work.
“Stunned silence”
According to one employee, the news was announced to employee reps yesterday before being delivered to general staff via Teams calls today.
“The mood was utter shock and stunned silence across the business when we were told of the size of the business we would become,” they said, talking under the condition of anonymity.
“And you can see by the number of ‘open to work’ posts on LinkedIn that many employees expect this to be terminal.
“These are the two things I’ve got from today. The shock the moment we were told and the fact my feed has blown up with so many open to work posts.”
Employees are yet to be given any guidance on which teams or roles are likely to stay or go.
No decision can be made on the exact number of job cuts until the 45-day consultation period is concluded, with the proposed 130-staff scenario said to be a ballpark figure that could either go up or down.
AURELIUS agreed to buy Exertis IT from previous parent DCC Group in July for an enterprise value of £100m. It ranked 4th in IT Channel Oxygen’s recent 50 Must-Know Distributors and Marketplaces 2025.
Since then, the core UK business – which has had a tough few years – has been beset by difficulties obtaining credit, according to multiple sources we spoke to.
Despite this, recent developments have blindsided staff.
“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 last week.
It’s worth stressing that the cuts relate only to the Exertis UK Business & Consumer and Supplies businesses, which has offices in Burnley, Harlow, Elland and Basingstoke.
Other businesses in scope of the deal (namely the Irish business and its UK brands that fall under its control such as Hypertec, Ztorm and MTR), do not appear to be impacted.
Exertis UK declined to comment.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
