Following the retirement of its founder last year, the UKP20m electronic components distribution company Abacus Electronics Plc of Newbury, Berkshire has been bought out by its managing, sales, marketing and financial directors, who between them hold a controlling interest in the company. The management buyout is being supported by investment from Ensign Trust. The company, which was founded in 1972, operates mainly in the telecommunications, graphics and digital signal processing markets. Abacus has a local approach to distribution whereby it keeps it subsidiary sales divisions to sizes which constitute plausible local operations with a personalised type of service. While each of these subsidiaries is autonomous as regards customer relations, they rely on Abacus for inventory, accounting, and all administration, and report back to the sales director. This approach has been so successful that where branches are deemed to have become too large such as at Matrix in Aylesbury and Jedec in Pangbourne, spin-off companies have been established. Abacus conducts a large part of its business through franchised lines from companies including National Semiconductor, Toshiba, 3M, Rockwell, Bourns, Logic Devices, Micron, Zitel, and Holmberg. It is also, however, geared up for international commodity sourcing outside of its franchised lines, and this ability to offer a wide range of products has enabled it to set up a component kitting system called Liberty. With this system, the company can batch up components to the required production specifications as well as shouldering all the customer’s purchasing administration. Under the ownership of the current management team which has directed Abacus’ 25% growth over the past year, the company is looking to expand. Immediate plans include establishing subsidiaries in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.
