Executive Summary
In April 2001 Executive Information Services
Pty Ltd acquired The Caxton Bookshop and
merged three companies (Executive Books,
Executive School Supplies and The Caxton
Bookshop) under the name Caxton Books
with a strategic view to becoming the
book supplier of choice to specialised
markets throughout southern Africa.
The “Caxtons”
brand has been in existence for seventy
years in Cape Town. The company’s
strength is built on vastly experienced
staff, extensive product knowledge, flexibility
in approach and an unsurpassed supplier
network stretching across the globe.
Products
Our product mix is 80% books with the
balance split between stationery, art
material and paper. The books we supply
vary from large multiple copy orders for
school / academic textbooks and library
books; to single copy orders of specialised
books on a diverse array of subjects from
Ancient Greek Pottery, Contract Law in
Nigeria, workshop manuals for vintage
cars, books on gold mining and bomb making
to management titles for conferences and
medical texts for hospitals.
Clients
We supply our products to national and
international clients throughout southern
Africa. The diversity of our client base
reflects the need for books in all spheres
of life.
Our clients range from pre-primary, primary,
secondary and tertiary educational institutions,
academic, legal, corporate, city and provincial
libraries, government departments, courts
of law from magistrates to the appeal
and constitutional courts and private
sector business from mining houses, legal
firms, investment banks and hospitals
to medical practices.
While satisfying the needs of any institution,
public or private sector, we also cater
for individuals who are struggling to
find books that are not available in most
retail bookshops.
Our clients
include:
|
| |
• |
University of Cape
Town |
| |
• |
Pick ‘n Pay |
| |
• |
City Varsity |
| |
• |
Cape Provincial Library Services |
| |
• |
Supreme Court – Bloemfontein |
| |
• |
Diocesan College |
| |
• |
Tshwane Municipal Library Services |
| |
• |
Mpumalanga Department of Education |
| |
• |
Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs |
We have concluded a number of sizeable
contracts, some of which are still on-going.
A list of these is shown below:
| |
• |
The on-going supply
of books and stationery to the
Western Cape Education Department
and Cape Town schools valued in
excess of R6,000,000 per annum.
This is on-going. |
| |
• |
A contract to supply paper to
the Northern Cape Education Department
valued in excess of R1,000,000
(under Executive School Supplies). |
| |
• |
A contract to supply school books
to the Free State Education Department
valued in excess of R3,000,000
(under Executive Books). |
| |
• |
A contract to supply in excess
of R1,000,000 worth of art books
to the Mpumalanga Education Department.
This is on-going. |
| |
• |
A current contract to supply multi-media
resources to Free State Education
Department Libraries valued in
excess of R5,000,000. This is
on-going. |
| |
• |
Supply of library books to Cape
Provincial Library Services valued
at approximately R1,000,000 per
annum. This is on-going. |
Staff & Management
The staff complement of Caxton Books stands
at 22 full-time staff. Contract employees
are hired when seasonal demand dictates
the need for extra resources. The seasonal
nature of the book trade has allowed us
to build up a large pool of experienced
“book people” that we are
able to call on when we are busy with
a project.
Robin Wilson has held executive positions
in the music and stock broking industries
and entered the book trade in the early
nineteen eighties. He has managed various
operations including book clubs, mailing
companies and specialised book suppliers
over this time and merged his book interests
into Executive Information Services Pty
Ltd in 1988. He continues to participate
in the South African Booksellers’
Association and actively promotes Caxton
Books to suppliers and clients alike.
Jonathan Ferreira entered the book trade
in the early nineties when he was employed
by Robin Wilson in a sales capacity. He
continues to be responsible for the management
of the company while examining other opportunities
for strategic growth.
>> top
|
