It seems we have gossip about distributors this month, firstly Mayflex. The IP distributor in Birmingham has reached an agreement to transfer ownership to Sonepar UK, subject to approval from the Austrian competition regulators. They expect the agreement to be completed within the next month. The business will continue to trade as Mayflex and be led by the existing management and has the full support of its vendor partners. Talking of Mayflex they have also recruited a new supply chain director by the name of Andy Cooper (no relation).
Secondly, Andy Croston has completed a Management Buy-Out (MBO) of Videcon. The MBO sees promotion to the distributor’s board for Steve Newsome, now Sales Director, and Ian Farr, Technical Director, who will continue to have the existing management. The company also appointed Mike Reddington, pictured, former European General Manager of ADI, as the new Managing Director for the company. Mike has over 25 years experience in the security industry and held a number of senior positions throughout his career. And I might add used to employ Andy, in the Gardiner Tech days. Andy said: “Mike is a key appointment for the business that strengthens the existing senior management team and will be instrumental in taking the business through its next growth cycle.” Mike Reddington said that he was delighted to be joining: “This is an exciting time for Videcon and its customers and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”
Staying with distributors for a minute, COP Security has announced Martin Butterworth as UK Sales Manager. Heading an expanding sales team and product range, I am told, Martin is well known to us all in the security equipment distribution industry, mainly for his many years at Network Video Centre and more recently, DVS.
Back to acquisitions. Dycon Ltd, by CSL-DualCom Ltd. Dycon’s product lines are being divided into two separate businesses, secure communications and power supplies. And CSL has divested the power supply business. Last month a new business, Dycon Power Solutions, is switching (pardon the pun) the range of switched-mode power supplies to a new site in South Wales. The company also has plans for new power products to be launched during 2015, they say. MD there is Tony Allen, and Commercial Director, Tony Makosinski. I remember working on a job in Edinburgh many years ago with Tony; he has been around almost as long as me.
Back to the normal gossip. Samsung Techwin has appointed Jon Hill as Business Development Manager for the transport sector. Jon, who was a Sales Executive for NICE Systems, has worked in the electronic security industry since 1993. He has been in sales for Mirasys and had a previous spell at Samsung. He has also worked for eight years for Siemens Security Products as the company’s video systems specialist.
Now some of you may know that Jim Oughton the security manager at Tesco is retiring! What? I hear you cry. He has been counting it down for a few years now, to be honest, with this app on his phone. His last day was April 13, he told me. “I have had a great 30 years with the company, and an even better time in the security industry, (Chubb Alarms and Modern Alarms, we worked there at the same time), but at the age of 60 it’s time to move on. Hope to see you all at some WCoSP events in the coming months and years.” Well, Jim, we have had some great times and shared some great moments, I wish you all the best, bud, and if you get bored – I have a lawn that needs mowing! I did think now was the time to publish all those dodgy photos but nah; maybe not.
Competition.
Now many of you won’t realise but we are celebrating our 25th year in the business. We have seen many changes during that time. When we started an apple and a blackberry were fruits and a 911 was a car, how things change. Oh, and I had hair! However I mention this because we used to run a competition to win a bottle of bubbly which we want to reintroduce for a few months. How does it work? You need to send us a picture of yourself holding one of our magazines in front of a well known landmark, yes we effectively invented the selfie. The one that is the furthest away that month will win the bubbly, it may be you’re in Liverpool in front of the Liver buildings and win, as that’s the furthest that month, back in the good old days we did get one from Australia. I will put all the entries on the web as well, so come on and email me now and join in our success.
Charity
Derek Scott (MD at Consultative solutions) tells us that on May 6, he and three friends are starting the three day, 170 mile, Way of the Roses bike ride to raise money for McMillan Cancer Support. They would appreciate your sponsorship by using this link – http://www.justgiving.com/owner-email/pleasesponsor/wayoftheroses2 for a valuable cause. It doesn’t have to be a lot, because, as we have found over the years, it all adds up.
