Midwich makes Irish acquisition

Midwich has acquired Irish distributor Square One Distribution Limited.

Founded in 2004, Square One is based in Bray near Dublin and is a trade-only distributor of audio visual products to AV dealers, IT resellers and custom installers for the residential market. With 2008/9 sales of €2.7m, Square One has a portfolio of strong brands that includes Panasonic, Hitachi and Dynalite.

Square One will continue to be run by its current general manager, Garnett Stewart, who commented: “I’m very excited at the prospect of developing Square One with Midwich’s support. I know that our customers will be very interested in the fantastic brand portfolio we will have access to. Using Midwich’s buying power, we are already in the process of pulling together some tempting deals. I expect that Midwich’s size and financial strength will be of comfort and encouragement to our staff and vendors alike.”

Square One’s shareholders Criostoir and Ronan McLaughlin have ceased to be involved in the business following the transaction and will focus on their core business interest of Meritec Presentation Products Limited. This means that Square One will become a 100% trade-only distributor with immediate effect.

Stephen Fenby, the finance director of Midwich, who led the transaction, added “Midwich has increased its sales into the Irish market in recent years, despite not having a local office.  Having seen what we have achieved in the UK market, a number of our key vendors have been actively encouraging us to expand our product offering in Ireland. We considered that the best way to understand and serve this market was by joining with a local partner. We know that the Irish market is challenging currently, but we firmly believe that, with our support, Square One can grow significantly and be in a very strong position when the market improves.”