Evans Cycles is looking to restructure the business amid falling profits

[Ross]

https://www.bikebiz.com/business/evans-in-cash-talks

The owner of Evans Cycles is looking to restructure the business amid falling profits at the 60-store chain. ECI Partners is seeking £10 million to keep the business afloat, reports Sky News.

[MichaelB]

Will be interesting to see what happens.

Used to use Evans a bit, but seems that more of their stuff is 'not shipped to Aus', so haven't bought from them for a while

[jaseyjase]

Will be interesting to see what happens.

Used to use Evans a bit, but seems that more of their stuff is 'not shipped to Aus', so haven't bought from them for a while

Probably dosnt help that stopped shipping to Aus from the 14th of June!

i used them, mainly because at times they stocked brands/parts that other retailers didnt.

[nezumi]

Clearly this is all the result of the loss of the Aus market. They should adjust their systems to collect GST, and then they'd be fine!

[AUbicycles]

They missed the chance to be a serious player on the Australian market. Having physical retailers affects the focus and it is fair that 'profits alone' shouldn't be the sole motivator. Shipping to Australia is a solvable problem for a big business and I think new opportunities for Australian customers are with smaller business that don't reach the threshold.

But the law also came at a time when Australian online business was being competitive anyway.

[AUbicycles]

More reporting of the struggling Evans Cycles chain - a rescue deal is necessary to keep them afloat. Continuing turbulent times ahead for Evans Cycles who are fairly big in the UK market.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45595144

[Ross]

Halfords rides to rescue of struggling rival Evans Cycles

https://news.sky.com/story/halfords-rid ... s-11509519

Halfords, the UK's biggest bikes retailer, is trying to ride to the rescue of Evans Cycles, the rival chain which is racing to agree a takeover that would secure its future.

Sky News has learnt that Halfords, which is listed on the London stock market, was among a number of parties which tabled indicative offers for Evans earlier this week.

Other bidders included turnaround investors, with Evans requiring more than £10m in fresh capital to see it through the next few months of trading.

The urgent auction of Evans, which was founded nearly a century ago, underlines the risk of another prominent retailer being consigned to the list of names which have been plunged into crisis this year amid a toxic high street trading environment.

Like many high street retailers, Evans has slipped into the red because of a combination of rising costs and challenging trading conditions.

The chain‎ trades from just over 60 stores across the UK and traces its history to 1921, when the first FW Evans Cycles shop opened in south-east London.

The company, which is owned by the private equity firm ECI Partners, is being advised by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), while AlixPartners is advising the retailer's lenders.

It has been backed by a number of investment firms, including Active Private Equity‎, which sold it to ECi in 2015 for an undisclosed sum.

ECI is not expected to be part of any rescue deal.

The current talks with its lenders is not the first time that Evans has flirted with financial difficulty.

In 2016, it held similar talks with its banks amid a slowdown in bicycle sales.

This year, it parted company with Andy King, its chief executive for less than two years, and replaced him on an interim basis with Alan Fort.

Evans is the latest in a long series of major retail names to be forced into talks with its lenders as the industry contends with one of the most brutal trading environments for decades

[Ross]

Evans Cycles Staff Told Of Rescue Plan

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonrei ... 7cddec78a7

Struggling U.K. retail chain Evans Cycles has been rescued, staffers of the 60-store cycles-only chain were told today.

Earlier in the month, the UK's leading sports retailers JD Sports and Sports Direct were reported to have tabled offers for Evans Cycles, and rival Halfords had also been sniffing around. There were also deals on the table from 11 other interested parties. However, Halfords has now pulled out of any deal. Prior to the acquisition, Evans Cycles was seeking a £10 million cash injection to stay afloat.

The front runners to acquire Evans Cycles are now JD Sports – which owns the Go Outdoors chain – and Sports Direct, run by Mike Ashley. The official announcement of the new owner will be made tomorrow, industry sources said.

[Ross]

Mike Ashley's Sports Direct Acquires Evans Cycles

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonrei ... 36711e4839

Struggling U.K. retail chain Evans Cycles has been acquired by Mike Ashley's Sports Direct. Ashley is threatening to close at least half of the 62 stores in the cycles-only chain, with a possible loss of more than 500 jobs.

[antigee]

shutting some of the stores may make business sense but suspect the threat to do so is part of "bargaining" with the current employees

the owner of Sports Direct has plenty of history on employment policies that sink to the bottom of what is legally allowable

plenty on google here's a start that refers to a UK Parliamentary enquiry into the issue:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -practices

[march83]

Mike Ashley also owns Newcastle United and is pretty universally hated as a club owner. He is not exactly a man of the people.

[MichaelB]

So a good result then .

How long will it last I wonder ?

[paulcxw396]

So a good result then .

How long will it last I wonder ?

I'm curious how it all turned out?

[ningnangnong]

Mike Ashley also owns Newcastle United and is pretty universally hated as a club owner. He is not exactly a man of the people.

He sold it to a consortium a couple of years ago, with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia taking majority ownership.

But yes, he was a terrible owner alright. Didn't hear one good word about him during his whole tenure.

[WyvernRH]

So a good result then .

How long will it last I wonder ?

I'm curious how it all turned out?

Chatting to a couple of my few remaining contacts in the trade back home in London, they understand that Sports Direct still owns and runs Evans, but the standard of service is down to supermarket levels in a lot (but not all) of the stores. General mood was 'Meh, mass market competition for Halfords" which is sad if you remember the great service, advice and bikes that came out of the store in Lambeth back in the 1970's.

Richard