Westcoast picks up Spire

Consolidation across the channel is continuing with Westcoast acquiring Spire Technology to expand its market coverage across the UK.

The distributor has picked up 100% of the share capital of Spire, which is a long-standing player providing components for resellers.

Westcoast is looking to solidify its position as the largest privately owned distributor in the UK and views this latest move as part of that process. The latest acquisition builds on ongoing efforts by Westcoast to widen its geographical and product reach. The distributor is no stranger to using M&A to expand the business, having picked up Irish player Binnian last August.

Westcoast will be using Spire as its components arm and encouyraging its existing cvustiomer base to tap into the available products.

“There are so many benefits to the combination of Spire and Westcoast for both companies, vendors, UK resellers and employees,” said Alex Tatham, executive director at Westcoast. “It will add significantly to Westcoast’s components portfolio, hence Spire will become the group’s main components pillar – with full access to all the customers, finance and tools that make Westcoast such a strong distributor in the UK and Europe. 

“Both businesses emphasise their agility and flexibility when it comes to speed of decision making and performance as well as a strong customer intimacy. This cultural fit will help realise immediate mutual opportunities,” he added.

Spire, based in Dorset, has been trading for more than 30 years and has relationships with all of the major component vendors, and employs more than 60 staff.

The distributor’s vendor relationships cover the household names in semiconductors and components, including AMD, Intel, Corsair, HP, Microsoft and Lenovo.

“Westcoast can only help grow our business,” said John Appleton, Spire CEO. “In return, we can bring a range of accretive components vendors to Westcoast’s significant and diverse customer base. We are delighted that we can form part of Britain’s largest privately owned technology group and can use its considerable resources to accelerate our growth.”

Component distribution is a growing market, with Future Market Insights forecasting it to deliver on a global scale an annual compound growth rate of 4.4% from 2022 to 2032, and reach a valuation of $60,525.1m by the end of 2032.