Eccleston takes helm of enlarged SDG

SCH aims to communicate full size of distribution business as it rolls out SDG brand across Europe

Specialist Computer Holdings (SCH) has united its smorgasbord of EMEA distribution brands under the SDG banner in a bid to present one face to the market and challenge the likes of Avnet and Arrow on a pan-European level.

The SDG brand will employ 650 staff across EMEA and boasts a turnover of $2.34bn (£1.47bn) and a top-three position with HP and IBM.

It will be headed up by Paul Eccleston (pictured), who was formally managing director of UK distribution. Eccleston will continue to run the UK, but other country managers will now report to him.

Privately held IT group SCH has already brought together its four UK brands - ETC, ISI, Interchange and IQ Sys - under the SDG brand.

The same process will now occur in France, where it uses the ETC and Bestware brands, and in the Netherlands, where it trades as ETC. Those specialist brands will be retained, but all will now be known as "SDG companies".

The move is designed to give the market a true sense of the firm's distribution prowess across the region.

Group chairman and chief executive, Sir Peter Rigby, admitted the firm's legacy of trading as a variety of brands in different countries meant its "market positioning has not reflected the size, capability and added value of our combined businesses".

"Distribution has changed dramatically from a local country operation providing IT products to a global business landscape competing with major US players with a background of distributing components or volume related consumer goods," he said.

Eccleston said: "[Resellers] need a distributor who can complement them and add specialist resource, capability and capacity so they can deliver the right solution, where and when their end customer demands it. Through SDG, we can leverage our scope, scale and vendor relationships to achieve this uniquely by working for them and with them across EMEA."