Alan Sugar has stepped down as chairman of Viglen, having
steered the system builder for more than 32 years.
According to a filing at Companies House, Sugar, who was
recently appointed as the government's enterprise tzar and has
helmed BBC 1's The Apprentice since 2005, handed in his
notice on 1 July - the same day he resigned from Amstrad.
The UK system builder market has more than halved in numbers
during the past six years due to intense competition from tier-one
PC suppliers. Viglen has not been immune, as its last set of
results revealed.
The company was the subject of a takeover bid by
Staffordshire-based Stone Computers, until the deal hit the rocks
due to financial issues that neither party was able to
overcome.
Sugar's departure heralds another round of talks between Viglen
and potential buyers, according to sources close to the firm.
Claude Littner, who traditionally joins Sugar in the semi-final
of The Apprentice each year to interview the last remaining
candidates, became a director at Viglen on the same day that Sugar
resigned.
He also holds directorships at Powerleague, Aspire Oil Services,
Blacks Leisure Group and Myeloma UK.
Over three decades, Viglen has carved out a niche in the public
sector and currently supplies local and central government as a
supplier under the OGC Buying Solutions framework and education
institutions through Becta.
Viglen was unavailable to comment at the time of going to
press.
This story originally appeared onMicroScope.co.uk.