Eurodis Elect. Share Discussion Threads

[fusebox] 16/8/2005 16:30

Business
Distribution
Abacus snaps up Eurodis customer lists
by Richard Wilson
Tuesday 16 August 2005
Abacus Group has paid £1.6m for customers and supplier information relating to the UK and Nordic...

Article Continues Below
... region from Eurodis, the troubled distributor which went into administration last month.



The deal does not involve Abacus acquiring tangible assets of Eurodis, but relates to market specific customer and supplier information which will see "a proportion of the Eurodis sales in the UK" added to Abacus' own business.



"The former Eurodis business taken on in the UK and the Nordic region, where Abacus will now have critical mass, will be important and should assist Abacus grow its business in 2006," said Martin Kent, Abacus Group chief executive.



The broadline distributor has also employed four ex Eurodis sales staff in the Nordic region engaged in the distribution of display components and has secured distribution agreements in the region with certain display suppliers.



Eurodis was forced into administration when talks with a potential buyer for the business broke down in July.



Earlier this month administrators Deloitte & Touche LLP said they were looking to dispose of the pan-European distribution company either as separate businesses or broken into its assets. However, they warned that "given the level of debt across the Eurodis group, the Administrators do not anticipate, at present, that there will be a return to Eurodis Electron shareholders".

[momentos] 11/8/2005 13:07

Cheers 911.

[nineoneone] 11/8/2005 11:36

Eurodis Electronics AB sold to Rutronik

German Rutronik is presented as buyer of the Swedish subsidiary of Eurodis, Eurodis Electronics AB.

August 09, 2005 17:03 (evertiq)

evertiq earlier reported that Abacus acquires the Brittish subsidiary of Eurodis, Eurodis UK Business Information. Added to that Eurodis has now confirmed that German Rutronik acquires the Swedish subsidiary Eurodis Electronics AB. According to evertiq's sources Eurodis will also take over Eurodis's stocks.

According to Europartners Consultants Electronic Component Distribution Report 2005 Eurodis Electronics AB had 2004, 72 employees and a turnover of about 23.9 million EUR

[the forum] 09/8/2005 19:12

It died a lot sooner than 2005. It was just that some people couldn't smell the rotting corpse until someone told them.

[edward3] 09/8/2005 16:24

Ed any chance you can change the header to something more fitting like the "2005 The death of Eurodis".

[jordaggy] 07/8/2005 11:11

Sunday Telepgraph
7th August 2005


Edward Simpkins investigates how an Aim-listed company discovered $660m in a Brazilian bank account - and its connection with Lambert Financial, a nominee for 2,000 Israeli emigré pensioners

It is not often that a chief executive discovers hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in a company bank account. But that was the nice surprise that greeted Stuart Pearson, the CEO of Crown Corporation, and his boardroom colleague Philip Wood when they flew to Brazil in June.

At the offices of Banco do Brasil in Sao Paolo, they were given confirmation that the business they had both joined only recently was US$659.6m (£371m) in credit.

The bank provided a written statement that the funds existed and were available for Crown Corporation to withdraw - although the cash is supposed to stay in Brazil or Argentina, under local currency control restrictions.

Exactly how Crown, which has few other assets, came by that money is an intriguing tale about one of the strangest companies listed on London's Aim market.

A fortnight ago, Pearson - a jovial Yorkshireman who retired last year as a partner at Baker Tilly, the accountants - spelled out at Crown's annual meeting in Monaco just how undervalued the company's shares appear to be.

At the meeting he presented a balance sheet for Crown that claimed net assets in excess of £350m - including cash deposits of £360m. As Pearson pointed out, shares in the company, which closed on Friday at 68.5p, down from 875p in December 2003, appear to be a massive bargain.

"We have approximately 155m shares in issue, which equates to 225p per share," he said, adding that at the then price of 62.5p the company was worth just £97m, less than a third of the value of its cash deposits.

And before the money showed up at Banco do Brasil at the end of May, the shares were trading at just 11.5p.

However, investors can probably be forgiven for being cautious about this business, which says that its domicile and headquarters are in Bermuda. Since it was listed in the UK two years ago as a shell company dedicated to making acquisitions, it has failed to make a single investment of any substance. But huge amounts of cash have moved through the company's accounts.

"It is not a money laundering operation, I'm fairly sure of that," says Pearson. "But it is certainly very bizarre, there's no denying it."

When Crown announced, on October 30 2003, that it was to list it described itself as the brainchild of Mariusz Rybak, who was then the executive chairman of Crown, and Wolfgang Menzel, then the chief executive. The pair had raised £150m, allegedly from European institutions, in order to invest in and manage undervalued public companies "primarily in the Canadian and US marketplaces".

But just a few days later, on November 10 2003, they announced an extraordinary deal that seemed to have little to do with those intentions. The company said it had signed construction and civil engineering contracts worth $633m to build houses and install waste management and water treatment infrastructure in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital.

At the time the company said the deal was in line with its strategy because it intended that the contracts should be fulfilled "largely by companies in which Crown plans to take substantial equity interests".

Rybak explains there was a "deeper strategy" behind winning the contracts. "There were a couple of publicly listed Canadian construction companies with highly depressed market capitalisations," he says. "The idea was to acquire the contracts and then acquire the companies. We had several discussions with our advisers about it."

However, he says that news of their interest leaked into the Canadian market and that the value of the target companies leaped by around 25 per cent. "We didn't want to chase companies that were already aware of our interest," Rybak adds.

So how did this cash shell, which was looking for opportunities in the US and Canada, win a huge contract to build 14,000 houses, nine industrial parks, two commercial centres, three complexes of municipal buildings and two hospitals in Argentina?

The answer was in a note to the announcement. "Lambert Financial Investments Limited, acting as a strategic adviser to Crown, has been instrumental in opening the Latin American market and securing the contracts for Crown," it said.

Pearson elucidates: "Lambert has very good contacts with the Argentine government and it tipped them off. They were effectively PFI contracts [or business linked to the government]."

Lambert wasn't just any old adviser. It was also the biggest shareholder in Crown, with a 59.14 per cent stake (as of June 2004). When Crown listed it had issued 41.4m shares to Lambert in exchange for a certificate of deposit issued by the Banco do Brasil to the value of $275m.

However, other than winning the Argentine contract the company did little during the months that followed.

It set up a subsidiary called Crown Oil Corporation, which, it said, had agreed non-binding heads of agreement to acquire, for €235m (£164m), the right to build a natural resources transhipment terminal and a gas pipeline in Russia. Barry Townsley, the chairman of Insinger Townsley, Crown's broker, was to join as deputy chairman of the subsidiary.

Rybak says that it was the restrictions on removing currency from Brazil that made it difficult to invest as widely as it had hoped. "If we had borrowed against the cash deposits it would have been at such a discount that it limited what we could do," he says.

Then something unusual happened. In June 2004, just when the Buenos Aires construction contracts were due to commence, Crown announced that it had sold them on for $350m. Later that month Rybak explained that the plan was to reinvest that cash into the Russian oil and gas projects.

And who was the buyer of the Buenos Aires construction contract? None other than Lambert Financial Investments, Crown's adviser and majority owner, which had helped it acquire the contracts in the first place.

Lambert paid with a $350m promissory note issued by the Banco do Brasil. As the company noted at the time, "the gross profit to Crown is equivalent to the consideration". Or to put it another way, in just seven months Crown had made a profit of $350m by winning the contracts with the help of Lambert and then selling them back to Lambert.

The other strange thing is that the contracts - $633m for one and $75m for a separate security contract - were sold for around half their combined value of $708m. That implies a profit margin of 50 per cent, which is extremely high for the construction industry.

Pearson explains: "What I understand is that Rybak thought he would be able to find a construction partner, but in the event he failed to do so. Lambert agreed to find a new buyer for the contracts but on the condition that it would have a year before it paid for them to try and sell them on.

"I don't think anyone believed they would be moved on in time and that the promissory note would be met," Pearson says. But the note has in fact been redeemed - which is the reason all that cash is sitting in the Sao Paolo account.

Pearson asks a challenging question: "Was it a proper contract or was it some kind of money laundering exercise?" He is convinced it's all above board.

"What were they laundering? The money certainly wasn't criminal in origin and if they were trying to get the money out why did they put it into the Banco do Brasil? It didn't have any advantage, it was a nightmare for them really," he says.

Rybak admits that he was concerned the transaction was unusual enough to raise suspicions of money laundering. "This was an issue for us and we worried that banks would be uncomfortable with that," he says.

But he says there was no financial benefit to Lambert from the original award of the contracts. "Lambert was not involved in the contracts directly," Rybak says.

So just who is Lambert Financial? According to Pearson, Lambert is a nominee for around 2,000 Jewish pensioners who are mostly settled in South America. "It is a fund manager for a lot of ex-Israelis who've come to South America. It is based in Barcelona," he says. Rybak adds that he carried out substantial due diligence into Lambert and was perfectly satisfied with what he found.

As for Rybak, he resigned as a director of Crown on June 6 this year, the day Pearson was appointed. Pearson says he was approached by Rybak himself earlier this year - and that he was originally asked simply to provide advice on how to restore confidence in the company.

Since taking over, Pearson has promised to redouble efforts to find something to spend all that money on and he will increase the focus on UK opportunities.

"The main mission now is to get this cash out of South America through asset swaps," Pearson says. "We are looking at assets in Portugal now - a lot of land, casinos, hotels, and a golf course near Lisbon."

However, the Banco do Brasil is majority state-owned and is keen to see as much of the deposit as possible reinvested in Brazil. "It is a large dollar deposit and it is pretty clear the government wants most of the cash to stay in the country," Pearson says. "There will be a political solution I think. . . We'll probably have to buy a gold mine, which is fine. I don't mind doing that."

[jordaggy] 05/8/2005 10:42

Go buy some yoo... and cheer yourself up !

[galleon] 05/8/2005 08:58

yuk........

[momentos] 04/8/2005 18:33

I recently subscribed to bankrupt.com's mailign list. THis today:

EURODIS ELECTRON: Seven Subsidiaries in Administration

...bla bla bla (as RNS)

A company profile is available free of charge at



EURODIS ELECTRON: Company Profile

---------------------------------

NAME: Eurodis Electron PLC


ADDRESS: Electron House
43 London Road
Reigate
Surrey
United Kingdom
RH2 9PW

PHONE: [phone]
FAX: [phone]

E-MAIL: [e-mail]

WEB SITE:

TYPE OF BUSINESS: Eurodis Electron sells about 120,000 types of components to more than 18,000 electronics manufacturers and commercial customers across the continent. Offering logistics, supply chain, warehousing, and e-business services, the company currently has 780 employees in 40 offices across 18 countries.

SIC: (5065) Electronic parts and equipment

EXECUTIVES: Douglas E. Rogers, Non-executive Chairman
Barry B.J. Charles, Non-executive Deputy Chairman
Steve P. Swayne, Chief Executive
Bill N. Alexander, Group Finance Director
Peter W. Grant, Group Finance Director
Nick J. Jefferies, Executive Director
Dr. Albert van der Wijk, Executive Director
Bill N. Alexander, Non-executive Director
Milton Guffogg, Non-executive Director

ANNUAL TURNOVER: EUR327.9 million (May 2004)

SALES: EUR328 million (May 2004)

ASSETS: EUR179 million (May 2004)

NET DEBT: EUR 47.5 million (May 2004)

THE TROUBLE: In 2002, Eurodis Electron plc was badly hit by the collapse in demand for electronic components in Europe, which started a year earlier. The combination of low production capacity usage and high inventories also saw sales drop 10% to GBP185 million and operating profit sink 69% to GBP2.4 million.

The cost of restructuring dragged in losses of GBP3 million, while net debt rocketed 86% for the six months ending November 2001. Eurodis also let go of its Swiss computer products and services business Eurodis DATA to Bechtle AG for GBP8.1 million.

The downturn both in the economic environment and the market conditions continued in 2003. Further restructuring costs and downsizing resulted to reduction of its funding facilities. In April of that year, the company announced it was in preliminary bid talks, which were, however, terminated six months after. The year ended with sales still not recovering.

In May 2004, Eurodis revealed that the successful conclusion of the GBP39 million equity raising at the beginning of March has enabled the business to get back to operating on a normal footing. It incurred a pre-tax loss of GBP12 million on ordinary activities, down 37% from the year before before.

However, sales in ten months to 31 March 2005 were EUR244.1 million, 10.7% lower than figures on the same period in 2004. The slide continued in the first quarter of 2005 as Eurodis revealed sales were 8.8% down, reflecting the loss of franchises during 2004 following the company's refinancing, combined with a small fall in the overall European market.

On April 15, 2005, the company succumbed to administration; a day after it suspended its shares as takeover negotiations announced a month earlier have ended.

The company also said that its lead finance provider has cut down facilities to a level that makes current operations "unsustainable."

CREDITOR: HSBC BANK PLC

8 Canada Square
London
E14 5HQ, United Kingdom

Phone: [phone]

Web site:

FINANCIAL ADVISOR: DRESDNER KLEINWORT WASSERSTEIN

20 Fenchurch St.
London
United Kingdom
EC3P 3DB

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Web site:

STOCKBROKER: DRESDNER KLEINWORT WASSERSTEIN SECURITIES LTD

20 Fenchurch St.
London
United Kingdom
EC3P 3DB

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Web site:


AUDITOR: GRANT THORNTON UK LLP

Grant Thornton House
Melton Street
Euston Square
London
United Kingdom
NW1 2EP

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Web site:


LEGAL ADVISOR: KIRKPATRICK & LOCKHART NICHOLSON GRAHAM LLP

535 Smithfield St.
Pittsburgh, PA
United States
15222
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Web site:


MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS: ARTEMIS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (14.19%)

42 Melville Street
Edinburgh
Scotland
United Kingdom
EH3 7HA

E-mail: [e-mail]

Web site:


EAGLET INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (12.42%)

First Floor Office
Preacher's Court
The Charterhouse
Charterhouse Square
London
United Kingdom
EC1M 6AU

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Web site:



GARTMORE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PLC (3.97%)

Gartmore House
8 Fenchurch Pl.
London
United Kingdom
EC3M 4PB

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Web site:


ABERFORTH PARTNERS (3.08%)
14 Melville Street
Edinburgh
Scotland
United Kingdom
EH3 7NS

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

Web site:



REGISTRARS: CAPITA IRG PLC

Bourne House
34 Beckenham Road
Beckenham
Kent
United Kingdom
BR3 4TU

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

[crossfirecssf] 04/8/2005 13:05

Appreciate that Ed3...you too. I've enjoyed your "up" nature and optimism over the last year or so. All the best.

[edward3] 04/8/2005 12:36

Cross take care, blinking shame it's ended this way...

If only i took the advise given by hatto on AHT last year i would now sitting on close to 200K instead of Zilch.....

[momentos] 04/8/2005 10:58

Abacus Group acquires Eurodis UK Business Information.
For Sales Support contact 01635 515783, or your existing Abacus Group contact

[kiwihope] 04/8/2005 10:53

It's in the public domain now. On Thurs 28 July Abacus acquired certain assets from eurodis.

[crossfirecssf] 03/8/2005 22:05

Thanks Mike, you too. Dyfiman, thanks also, it's mutual. Both you guys posted some great stuff over the last year or so. Just plain old bad luck did for us in the end. One decision by one supplier proved too much, but it was mighty close & I still believe we had it in the bag until then. Maybe next time I guess.

All the best.

Knowing...I'll be in touch once I get my sh_t together.

[dyfiman] 03/8/2005 20:08

Cross.... may take you up on the research offer. In the meantime,
thanks for your input during the ELH fall, rise, fall, death saga. Y
You were one of many posters that illuminated those long days of
watching and hoping for ELH to emulate Lazarus.
Best regards.

[poypee57] 03/8/2005 19:05

See my YOO tip a few days ago has paid off. Have made good about half losses in this dog. Should make good on the other half as YOO marches forward in the next week.

[mike012321] 03/8/2005 18:31

Good luck Cross.All the best.