- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Cross country mountain bikes
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Vulpine cap logos.JPGCycle clothing brand Vulpine is "insolvent" and enters administration
London-based cycle clothing brand Vulpine has entered administration. The news was confirmed in an email send this afternoon by its founder, Nick Hussey, to investors in the business.
He wrote:
It is with intense sadness that I have to inform you that Vulpine is insolvent, and I have had to take the extremely difficult but essential decision to place the company I founded into administration, under UK law, hence my unusual formality.
Two Partners from RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP will be appointed administrators next week, after a special resolution was passed yesterday by ‘A Shareholders’, who are able to vote. Once appointed the Administrators will have full control of the company and I will no longer be able to make any decisions.
We have done all we can to finance the company. The late arrival of the majority of our Spring Summer 2017 stock put us in a more difficult cash position. Thus we sought to raise investment again through crowdfunding. But this did not gain the necessary momentum to complete, likely due to the very poor trading figures of the last financial year.
Thus we pulled out of the Crowdcube attempted raise and began contacting previously interested investors and potential buyers of Vulpine, plus a raft of new contacts.
Whilst there was strong recognition of the brand, and initial verbal interest, none have produced offers or ongoing due diligence, and communication has stopped. It is highly possible that, having seen our precarious financial position and the complications of doing a fast enough deal, they are waiting to pick the business up in administration instead, if any deal is to be done.
Vulpine’s brand and business structure remains relatively undamaged at this point, and any acquisition via administration would see the highest potential value to all stakeholders if conducted as quickly as possible.
The proposed Administrators plan is to try to sell the company’s assets, such as brand, goodwill, database & website to maximize realisations for the benefit of creditors and potentially shareholders.
You can contact Robert Young at RSM for advice on this process, or if you believe there may be an interested buyer: robert.young [at] rsmuk.comI cannot offer financial advice, and I encourage you to seek your own, but if you qualify for EIS status, you should be able to claim significant Loss Relief on top of your Tax Relief.I wish you all the very best.
Ride well.
More to follow.
Latest Comments
- mdavidford 4 min 22 sec ago
'should' these days - only the MUSTs and MUST NOTs are shouted.
- wtjs 5 min 29 sec ago
You are, of course, both right! I worry intellectually about the risk of being converted to pulp by a driver who will almost certainly get away...
- Hirsute 19 min 15 sec ago
I'd be rather cautious about a german shepherd and the labrador would probably end up causing you to fall with unwanted attention....
- Sriracha 46 min 32 sec ago
At last a light worthy of the hack reviewer's cliché, "pumps out the lumens."
- chrisonabike 1 hour 35 min ago
How can you say that?! For decades now (well, about once every couple of decades) UK Governments have been "encouraging cycling" as hard as they...
- mctrials23 1 hour 50 min ago
Thats not a defence (ironically). Everyone is paid to do their job. Some peoples job is to destroy the environment and ruin the future of billions...
- brooksby 3 hours 7 min ago
He should come to Bristol, where they're more than happy to send cyclists on a "dismount for this hundred metres of footway" diversion because...
- quiff 3 hours 12 min ago
He'll get back to you in another 15 years.
- Mr Blackbird 7 hours 57 min ago
Re Thomas Voeckler's 1.13 HM, at age 45....
Add new comment
253 comments
Now, now.
Personally I can't wait til the next blog about how growing up in a mining town, swearing lots, going to a tinpot university, having a gun held to his head and then working in films qualifies whoever made the deal as 4 Real 4 Life, Yo.
I had a toast tonight to a genuine cyclist who died doing something amazing.
Chancers like the manchild involved in making a load of overpriced shit and running its manufacturer into the ground to fund his poncey lifestyle need to GTFO of cycling. Mentioning no names, natch.
Pricks who feel the need to brag about £££ on bike threads are no better - even worse if you're full of shit, which, statistically, you probably are.
Also, if Unconstituted is reading this, Unflounce, mate.
Why wasn't this announced by @Fixie Girl? We need to know.
More great work by @Carlton Reid. More power to you fella!
They're an independant British bike brand - somewhat 'urban'. They don't do any clothing at the moment - it'll be fascinating to see how they take the brand forward - they're a really creative company.
Interesting times
In all fairness, on the face of it it does look a really promising move.
Match made in heaven
Poncy hipster bike clothing company bought by poncy hipster bike company
By creative of course you mean importing Unipack fixed gear bikes with slightly upgraded parts and selling them at a really low margin. Then expanding by getting Brant Richards in to design and oragnise production of a new road bike and selling that at low margin as well.
What this is however is correctly identifiying the niche and operating in it. Which is a step up from the previous owner of Vulpine I guess.
Cutting but true. There's a strange mystique around fixie bikes when any idiot could put one together. I'm living proof of that.
No, I mean creative more in the sense of what they've done with their brand and positioning - moving away from traditional industry attributes such as performance or artisan-crafted or latest technology. They behave more like a bootstrapped tech startup.
I don't know anything about the quality of their products though; I haven't purchased anything from them.
Their market is above Tesco below Halfords, they are a cut price Planet X. Its no coincidence that's who is backing them, and possibly this Vulpine bid(£50k)
Planet X are a cut price Planet X. Everything is for sale for half the supposed rrp.
Mango are way ahead of most of halfords' range, for what it's worth.
I say this as someone who owns both a Planet X and a Mango bike.
You mean sell a business he was flogging for £7.5m 3 weeks ago for £50,000! I think you are the Internet troll here!
TBH after reading all the revelations about the company's true financials, he seems a like a charlatan with no real business acumen. Come up with over-priced niche product, make losses, hide losses, ask for more money. What a business man!
I'd like to think people will think twice about lending him a pencil after all this. The world doesn't need 'visionaries' that end up f@cking people over whilst showing off their bespoke bicycles.
And where the stock was valued at over £250K
That must have taken some tough negotiating.
I see Nick has resurfaced on twitter and is slowly building up the Nick=Victim narrative.
I look forward to his response to my DMs and to other shareholders.
Jenny
Pages