Evans Cycles posted a £22.8m post-tax loss for the financial year ending April 2023, the cycling retailer blaming the “supply chain issues within the industry” for its losses spiralling from £5.3m a year earlier.
Despite the headline figure about the Frasers Group-owned company, the financial report published today insisted that “management believe the company has performed strongly in the period even with the well publicised supply chain issues with bicycles”, the financial year in question the one that preceded the purchase of Wiggle Chain Reaction by Mike Ashley’s business empire for just £3m.
> Wiggle website relaunched following Frasers Group takeover (and the old orange logo is back)
Meanwhile, on Evans’s website, there is a major sale across bikes, components, clothing, tech and just about anything cycling-related in stock, savings of up to 50 per cent seen on Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, Ridley, Cube, Pinnacle, Lapierre, Raleigh, Vitus and Cinelli models, some of that surely old Wiggle Chain Reaction stock needing shifted.
As per the retailer’s income statement for the financial year ending 30 April 2023, the business’s revenue was up slightly on the previous year (£45.8m vs £45.3m), however much-increased “administrative expenses” saw a pre-tax loss reported of £23.2m, reduced to £22.8m after tax.
In the previous year, Evans had posted a loss of £5.3m. According to the business’s statement of financial position, £145m is owed to creditors within a year, up from £58m the year before. Overall, the company’s total deficit was £43.6m at the end of April 2023, something a later note explains will be “funded by loans from other group companies which will not be called for repayment unless cash flow permits for a minimum period of 12 months”.
Commenting on the accounts, Evans’s directors stated its revenue increase is due to an increase in retail floor space, while its “underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) has reduced from a loss of £4m to a loss of £14.1m due to supply chain issues within the industry”.
Independent auditors concluded they “have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue”.
By April 2023, Evans employed 504 staff, the vast majority of that figure working in its 57 retail stores.
The financial results come as the big-name cycling retailer is running a major online sale, a giant banner on the website homepage hailing “final reductions of up to 70 per cent”.
In May, Manchester’s Cheetham Hill branch was transformed, with the entire top floor dedicated to Wiggle CRC outlet products.
Similar bargains and price-slashing can be seen online now and not just for products that came over during the Wiggle purchase. Bikes from Specialized, Trek, Cannondale and other brands have seen their prices cut, some Lapierre models available for half of RRP.
Cannondale’s System Six Hi-MOD Ultegra Di2 has been cut from £8,500 to under £6,000, Trek’s Emonda SL 5 2024 is down to £2,279 from £2,850, and the Madone SL 7 2024 has £1,500 off. There are also significant savings on entry-level and mid-range bikes, including Pinnacle models, Cannondale’s CAAD Optimo and Synapse, Ridley Noah and Fenix models, the Vitus Razor and Specialized Allez.
Clothing from Endura and Rapha has also been spotted with reductions, while Shimano components and other tech are also involved.
18 thoughts on “Evans Cycles blames “supply chain issues” for £22.8m loss, as 70% sale sees bike prices slashed online”
That’s pictures of a very
That’s pictures of a very posh Evans Cycles you’ve got there…
I went to the Evans web site
I went to the Evans web site for the first time in years. Why are there lots of items that are significantly cheaper if you buy them on interest-free credit? Why don’t they want my money now, upfront, to pay their creditors? Something smells fishy.
ubercurmudgeon wrote:
Likely the credit provider is bunging them the difference to encourage people to take up the credit offer, and then banking on enough people failing to pay it off in the interest-free period that they make it up in interest payments (at 29.9% APR).
I get the motivation to offer
I get the motivation to offer a finance option, to ensnare poorer people, which is scummy but not unusual. But why make people who can afford to buy outright go through the hassle of spreading payments? There must be an additional grift going on, probably something to do with collecting and selling data on their customers.
Even if you could afford to
Even if you could afford to pay the full cost up front now, that’s no guarantee that you’ll (a) remember to or (b) be able to (you may have spent the money on something else) service the payments when they come due, which means you then get hit with those hefty interest payments.
Plus, yes, every ‘statement communication’ is an opportunity to agressively try to induce you to buy more expensive stuff on credit, and every time you do, the more normal it becomes and the more likely you are to over-extend yourself, or forget to make a payment.
As far as the credit company’s concerned, subsidising a few discounts here and there is just a marketing investment.
From what i can see most of
From what i can see most of the items are also for sale on the house of fraser and sports direct sites for the same prices and the same tie in discounts on certain items with the same sizes in stock.Makes you wonder if they are losing money like Evans too.
Used to shop with Evans all
Used to shop with Evans all the time and spent £thousands with them since 2008 ,but once they were taken over by the Sports Direct guy, customer service took a serious nosedive.
Became so bad in fact,that I’ve not spent a single penny with them for more than 5 years.They (he) don’t deserve to stay in business.Grotty is how I would describe them.
Evans in Kingston was the
Evans in Kingston was the nearest bike shop that sold proper race gear when I was growing up so always had a soft spot for them and occasionaly used my local one in East Dulwich but the quality of service became so poor I stopped using them except for emergencies, it was either non-existent or incredibly patronising. The final straw was when I went in at the end of a ride to pick up a couple of tubes for the mountainbike, so I was in full kit and pushing my Roubaix DuraAce SL Pro – not exactly looking inexperienced, one would think – and when I took the tubes to the counter the assistant said, “Are they for that? Because they won’t fit that, you know.” The branch closed last year, meanwhile literally a hundred yards up the road the local branch of Balfes is absolutely thriving. If you can’t make a viable go of a bike shop in an area that probably has as many commuting and sporting cyclists as any in London, there’s something pretty wrong with your model.
Rendel Harris wrote:
There’s not exactly a shortage of people in the Dulwich area with a significant differential between the cost of their bike and the level of their knowledge. It was worth the assistant checking, I’d say: of course the tone in which it was done would make all the difference.
I was in my LBS a few weeks ago, and the mechanic was very patiently explaining to a guy with DA and deep-section carbon wheels how to change an inner-tube. Not wheel-specific, or tips for doing it quickly, literally “there’s this rubber tube that goes between the wheel and the tyre, if it bursts the air will come out”.
I think the range of items
I think the range of items they used to stock has cut been down a fair bit, sales and discounts (or lack of) arent that great either compared to Pre-buyout Evans as there isnt a huge lot of competition in that field. There arent as many bike shops within the same 5 mile radius as there used to be as most of them have shut down. You’d have to directly compete with the likes of CycleSurgery and Halfords with their ‘Cycle Republic’ brand first and foremost before all the small independent shops that existed in the same area.
Now they charge you £5 even if you collect in store and if you want a refund they’d prefer to give you store credit instead.
Why should anyone shop there?
I used to be happy enough to
I used to be happy enough to shop in Evans at a pinch if necessary but haven’t set foot inside since the takeover. Evans seems to ‘save’ businesses (very publicly), get what he can from them then let them sink (as quietly as he can manage).
Last time I was at Goodwood Revival, my suitcase handle got damaged in the rush to board a train, so I needed to find a cheap replacement that I wouldn’t use once and throw away. Sadly, the best option was in Sports Direct, so I bought it.
Still feel dirty 3 years later.
(Donated the broken case to a homeless shelter in Chichester, which they were very grateful to receive for someone to store their belongings in).
Cayo wrote:
From going to Sports Direct or Goodwood Revival?
mark1a wrote:
From going to Sports Direct or Goodwood Revival?— Cayo
Oi! ? Revival is great fun. Besides, Chris Hoy, with Ned Boulting, led an Erica-type ride round the circuit before heading into the countryside, so it had a cycling connection that year. Second time meeting Chris, and Ned asked if I was taking part in the ride despite the fact I was dressed in full RAF uniform! ?
(edit: Eroica, not Erica!)
I think her name was spelt
I think her name was spelt ‘Erika’ and I would dearly have loved to catch Ned Boulting and Chris Hoy paying homage as nature intended. (I expect NB was surprised that you were dressed at all.)
pockstone wrote:
Darned predictive text! ? Don’t want to spill ure Jake sew ivy juice adder a complexion two the end of moan past. ?
Thankfully, Chris, Ned and I were all sartorially covered up. ?
They have some decent sales
They have some decent sales values (cash in) but ridiculous overheads and admin costs. Is this actually Mike Ashley dropping debt onto it?
Not surprised they are loss
Not surprised they are loss making since Ashley buyout. He ruined Field and Trek and Karrimor too with his lack of customer respect and shoddy retailing. His market trader mentality is completely inappropriate for specialist businesses.
You do realise they were loss
You do realise they were loss making before he bought them, right?
I bought my bike from Evans shortly after the takeover. Unfortunately the frame cracked, well over a year later. They replaced the frame and swapped all the components over under warranty, no probs. Can’t fault their service.