Uniter Group announces major strategic reorganisation following recent merger with Bannerbridge plc

PR Log (Press Release) – Mar 31, 2009 – Uniter Group Ltd, a leading provider of technical support solutions, has announced a major re-organisation following its recent merger with Bannerbridge plc, the UK’s leading provider of computer peripherals, ID card printers, CD/DVD duplicators/printers, biometrics, consumables, spares and associated services.   The merger took place in November 2008 creating one of the UK’s largest independent providers of technical support and solutions.  

Uniter Group has subsequently undergone a period of rationalisation to position the business and help it weather the current economic downturn.  This has included optimising the combined engineering capabilities of the two companies to deliver industry leading levels of technical support solutions to corporate clients, manufacturers and the reseller channel.  

The company has installed a new management team which includes Phil Wheeler as Chairman, Jo Klingen as Managing Director, Peter Buttress as Financial Director and Steve Edgar as Operations Director.  The team also includes Jason Williams, a former director of the company and a well known figure in the office equipment and maintenance marketplace.  Jason rejoins the new executive board as Sales Director and will be responsible for developing business opportunities with new and existing customers throughout the UK.

“The combined operation’s financial strength, skilled staff and stability provides a solid platform from which we can expand the business and enhance our ability to support the largest contracts requiring roll-outs, installation, commissioning, training and maintenance to agreed service levels,” commented Jason Williams.  “We have high levels of confidence in the future of the company and are already seeing an increase in the level of calls to our national contact centre as users put off purchasing decisions for new equipment and need to extend the operational life of existing IT hardware.”

Uniter Group has already extended the lease for its Billericay-based headquarters where the existing contact centre will be expanded to meet this increase in business and enable all calls to be handled in the fastest possible way.  This operation can provide a 24/7, multilingual service and supported by a country-wide infrastructure of strategically located engineers equipped with the latest mobile communications devices and able to provide an eight-hour onsite response with a guaranteed fix or replacement machine when required.

“We expect the service market to experience further consolidation over the coming months as smaller, less well managed operations struggle to survive the current credit crunch,” added Jo Klingen.  “We are already considering further acquisitions to enhance our IT service offering to meet our ongoing strategy for growth.”