Exclusive: UK software distributor QBS acquires in France

MD Dave Stevinson said the move is the first of a wider European expansion

UK distributor QBS Software has kicked off its European expansion by acquiring French distributor Siener Informatique.

Managing director Dave Stevinson (pictured) acquired QBS last year, having set up GNR Technology in 2017.

Stevinson told CRN that the French acquisition has been made to improve the service that QBS gives resellers with international scope.

"We're quite fast growing and a lot of our business is coming from key partners that have an international presence themselves," he said.

"Computacenter, SCC, Insight [for example] have international offices and we want to serve them better.

"Also, a lot of our software publishers want to expand internationally and we're enabling them to do it by setting up this office."

QBS has doubled in size since Stevinson took over, with sales now at over £60m - including a contribution from GNR, but not from sub-£10m French firm Siener.

Stevinson said that Siener will keep its branding for the short to medium term, while its existing management will stay in charge.

Siener has 10 employees and is advertising for a number of vacancies at the moment. The firm has a similar vendor line-up to QBS, which Stevinson said was another factor in the acquisition.

He added that QBS is actively looking at further acquisitions, with the focus on expanding further into Europe.

"We have ambitious plans to grow in France and we will move into additional geographies with a 100 per cent European focus at the moment," he said.

"We are going through a steady process of internationalisation and France is really big market for software. We found the right target to acquire and we were able to get the deal done quicker than other deals we are working on.

"It also has nothing to do with Brexit. We are obviously aware of it, but whatever happens this is just about helping our partners realise their ambitions in Europe."