PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
British software distributor QBS Distribution has accelerated its European development with the acquisition of its French counterpart Siener informatique.
With the new acquisition, QBS will be able to tap into more than 20 years of experience in the French market.
"We have tripled our turnover over the last two years. An international development is mandatory to be able to sustain this trend, while at the same time remaining close to our customers,” said Dave Stevinson, general manager of QBS Distribution.
“We naturally decided to target the main European countries as a priority, starting with France and Germany, with the others following depending on the local opportunities that arise. Siener Informatique shares the same vision, values and philosophy as we do. This merger is therefore a natural fit.”
Anita Bitard, founder of Siener Informatique, added: "With a turnover of almost 7 million euros, we have reached a critical size. To grow further, we had to get closer to a larger entity. An acquisition by a company such as QBS Distribution was therefore very timely.”
From a practical point of view, this acquisition does not change anything for Siener Informatique. "The structure will not change, and I remain as manager. We will strengthen our sales and pre-sales staff as our offer is extended, with existing and future distribution contracts being managed at group level," explained Bitard, adding that there is no name change on the program.
QBS has nearly 8,000 publishers active in its catalogue, adding just over 70 from Siener Informatique. A few months ago, the wholesaler launched Siener Cloud, which is aimed primarily at French MSPs with ESET, as well as providing an access to the services of 17 other publishers.
"While we have ongoing developments at QBS, this market is not our core business. It is therefore still a little early to consider a common strategy on the subject," said Stevinson on this point, who revealed he will however undoubtedly closely watch Siener Informatique’s offer and technologies in the Cloud area.
F-Secure
In other QBS news, the company has been named as a new UK distributor for cyber security and privacy software brand F-Secure.
“Cyber security is becoming an increasingly important element of our software platform. We were impressed with both the technology of F-Secure and their ambition for the UK Market. To be selected as a distributor is a great privilege,” said Stevinson.
“We are delighted to confirm the appointment of QBS for our continued distribution in the UK and Ireland. QBS have become a dominant force in the UK software space. We are very pleased with this new agreement and look forward to working closely with the QBS group for the remainder of 2019 and beyond,” added Nathanial Addison, country manager, consumer partner sales, UKI, F-Secure.
The business will initially be handled by QBS sister company GNR Technology with offices in Telford. GNR specialises in retail packaged cyber security and also distributes Kaspersky Lab, Panda Security and Opswat Cybersecurity.
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