Brother takes over Abron

Press, 5 June 1982, Page 18

Brother takes over Abron

Brother Distributors, Ltd, the Christchurch sewing, cooking, and office machine importer and distributor, yesterday announced that it had bought Abron Machines, Ltd, of Lower Hutt, giving it control of all Brother products in New Zealand.

The managing director of Brother Distributors (Mr R. R. A. McLauchlan) said that Abron had the franchise rights for Brother industrial sewing machines, the only Brother product which the Christchurch firm did not have the New Zealand rights to.

Abron had held the franchise rights to the industrial sewing machines for 20 years, he said. The consideration for the take-over of Abron was in cash and in shares in Brother Distributors. The take-over, next Tuesday, brings industrial sewing machines under the same control as Brother’s domestic sewing machines, knitting machines, business machines, and electrical appliances, and the directors said the move bad the approval from

Brother Industries, Ltd, of Japan.

Brother Distributors also announced that its audited results for the year to March 31 showed a significant increase in sales and profitability. The result for the year would be announced towards the end of this month, Mr McLauchlan said. The directors said that the arrangement with Abron would not only help to consolidate the Brother name on the New Zealand market, but would also lead to a further improvement in performance by the Christchurch company. Brother Distributors increased its unaudited group net profit of 56.5 per cent to $88,813 in the six months to September 30, and in the last full year its profit was down 29 per cent to $63,490.

The latest “The New Zealand Business Who’s Who” lists Abron’s agency brands, which include Adler industrial sewing machines, Meyer fusing presses, Svegea strip cutting machines, and Marco embroidery machines.