Mapil Topco Limited, the parent company of Wiggle Chain Reaction, has appointed a liquidator, the news coming not long after we first reported the deal for the beleaguered cycling retail giant’s brand and intellectual property to be sold to Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group.
An update posted on Mapil Topco Limited’s Companies House page yesterday stated that Anthony Wright and Alastair Massey of FRP Advisory have been appointed as liquidators. The company’s statement of affairs, also posted yesterday, will be available within the next 10 days.
At the start of the month we first reported the news that Wiggle Chain Reaction’s brand and intellectual property was to be sold to Ashley’s Frasers Group, which also owns Evans Cycles and Sports Direct, in a deal believed to be worth less than £10 million.
Rumours had been circulating about the deal for some time, with all 447 of WiggleCRC’s employees being laid off in February as the administrators “closed the shutters”, Frasers Group believed to have purchased some of Wiggle’s in-house brands, such as Vitus, Nukeproof, dhb and Lifeline.
The saga began in the autumn, WiggleCRC entering administration and being put up for sale following a financial crisis that engulfed its Berlin-based parent company Signa Sports United (SSU), resulting in 105 jobs being cut at Wiggle, fellow online retailer Chain Reaction, and distributor Hotlines, and the company owing almost £27 million in debts to 400 creditors.
SSU’s crisis was prompted by its own parent company, Signa Holding, removing a €150 million funding commitment, plunging Wiggle and other cycling businesses such as Bikester, Probikeshop and Farrhad.de into uncertainty. SSU filed for insolvency and months of decline, administration and redundancies followed for Wiggle and Chain Reaction.
“Considerable interest” was reported by the administrators who said they remained “optimistic” over the possibility of a sale amid “considerable trading profit”, short-term business success fuelled by Black Friday discounts and stock clearance.
Ashley’s Frasers Group, now run by his son-in-law Michael Murray, has reportedly agreed to purchase WiggleCRC’s brand and intellectual property for a sum of less than £10 million.
“The assumption was Wiggle Chain Reaction wasn’t going anywhere”
On last week’s episode of the road.cc Podcast we heard from a former employee who spoke of staff’s “shock” at the retail giant’s demise.
“Everyone was convinced, this is it, we are one of the biggest bike retailers about. We’re about to go massive in America, then it was like ‘Oh, this might not be plain sailing, this is not good’. But I don’t think anyone thought this was going to close the company,” the ex-employee, who worked for one of WiggleCRC’s in-house brands, told us of his response to the withdrawal of the funding commitment.
“Suddenly the bubble burst, and you’ve got a train you’ve geared up to full speed, and you’re driving it flat out, then suddenly someone tells you you’ve run out of track. It was chaos, and you saw everyone hitting that. And I think the £150m combined with that – even with the £150m, there’s no guarantee we would have survived. Maybe it got too big.
The former employee said the “random” job cuts seemed “brutally handled”, with administration meaning nobody got their minimum notice period either.
“So they went from ‘I have to get this report in by one o’clock’ to ‘sorry’. And fifteen minutes later they’re sitting in a car in the car park going ‘what has just happened?’
“Everybody believed this was going to work,” he said. “We were too successful, we make too much money, we were too good at this. It’s not like there was another competitor in the same market in the UK. You might be one of the unlucky ones who got cut, but the assumption was: Wiggle Chain Reaction wasn’t going anywhere.”
He also claimed that staff were told that the company was likely to be sold to a private equity firm, and that management even told staff: “Don’t worry, Mike Ashley is not buying us”.
“Even when we closed, there was no talk about Frasers Group, about Mike Ashley,” he recalled. “We found out through media outlets, which is wild.”
14 thoughts on “Wiggle Chain Reaction parent company appoints liquidators”
I just did (probably) my last
I just did (probably) my last shop on Wiggle – picking up a short sleeve merino baselayer and some CO2 cartridges. I was very amused at the checkout to see they are still flogging their “£20 for free postage for a year” deal. I can’t really see anyone getting any value out of that.
For any ladies looking for a
For any ladies looking for a cool jersey, picked up a DHB Black Cyclists’ Network one on there for Mrs H last night, reduced from £50 to £5.
I bought some Giro flat pedal
I bought some Giro flat pedal shoes from Chain Reaction Cycles in their ‘final sale’. £33.
I’m going to miss the DHB
I’m going to miss the DHB merino stuff. That was superb stuff.
Paul J wrote:
Me too. I bought two long sleeve and one short sleeve two weeks ago; and now another short sleeve today. (Today’s purchase was on the basis that the CO2 cartridges were a no brainer at that price, and I needed to buy something else to get free postage
)
Although the wiggle+ offer is
Although the wiggle+ offer is showing on checkout, at least if you click through there is a message saying it’s not available and you can’t actually add it to your order
Me_ wrote:
Ah – thanks; I hadn’t tried.
Yep. Placed an order last
Yep. Placed an order last week for a few things that couldn’t really be left at the price. Fingers crossed they actually turn up.
My shoes were ordered Friday
My shoes were ordered Friday and turned up Monday, so I think they’re still shipping stuff out.
Bobonabike wrote:
I’m feeling brave and am going to try a return!
Dnnnnnn wrote:
You have got to let us know how that goes!
Made a return last week and
Made a return last week and just had the refund. Got some more stuff arriving over the next few days
Statement of affairs is there
Statement of affairs is there, now:
Quote:
Never. Believe. Management. Certainly not when things are going wrong, but not in the good times either.