Signa Sports with Liquidity issues .... (CRC/Wiggle/Bikester/Probike/Nukeproof/Vitus)

Zimmerframe

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"Signa Sports United (SSU), the parent company of online retailer Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles, has announced its intention to restructure and delist from the stock exchange, citing “severe liquidity and profitability challenges”.

The decision comes after the e-commerce giant noted a continued lag in demand for its products in the first nine months of 2023. This demand has remained “significantly below 2022 and pre-pandemic levels”, according to a company statement.

As a result, SSU will begin a review of its operating model, which it says will include the “termination or winding down of non-performing assets”.

The Berlin-based company has also decided to delist from the New York Stock Exchange, where its share price has fallen dramatically in recent years. In December 2021, the price was $9.21, but has since fallen to $0.89, per September 2023’s figures.

SSU’s delisting is expected to become effective later this month.

A company statement said: “Since announcing FY23 guidance, operating performance, particularly in the bike segment has continued to lag management expectations.

“As the company enters FY24, it is the belief of SSU management that the market disruptions associated with market overstock are likely to persist into late FY24 and will adversely impact the company’s ability to achieve its near-term growth and profitability targets.”

As well as Wiggle and Chain Reaction Cycles, SSU owns other cycling brands such as Probikeshop, Vitus and Nukeproof. The company’s portfolio also covers tennis, outdoor and team sports retailers.

In August this year, Cycling Weekly reported that Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles recorded a pre-tax loss of over £97million in the year to 30 September 2022.

Within the retailer's accounts, chief financial officer Adrian Bruce cited Brexit and the post-pandemic cycling slump as factors that hit the business.

Bruce said: “The effects of the current economic uncertainty have been felt throughout the retail industry in the recent months and the future impact of these uncertainties remains difficult to predict.”

Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles was acquired by SSU in December 2021 in a deal that saw the latter settle £312.9million of the retailer’s external shareholder debt and bank debt.

It is not known at this stage which brands SSU might seek to purge in its restructuring. "
 

Shjay

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Apr 30, 2019
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My mates wife is an accountant in London & says Wiggle in trouble, I haven’t quizzed her any further on this he told me when I said they are tax loss of £97 million
 

irie

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Two weeks ago bought a Black Spank Split stem (31.8) 43mm for my wife's bike, paid £34 shipped when RRP was £85. Couldn't believe the price, but now I can of course. I suspect that Wiggle etc. are early casualties of the current price war.
 

Tony4wd

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Aug 3, 2022
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overstock are likely to persist into late FY24
.... so I guess there should be good specials on bikes generally for the next year still.

I have noticed that the big discounts on wheels and forks have disappeared at Wiggle over the last couple of months.
 

RustyMTB

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Jul 22, 2020
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Three or four big UK distributors went this year, a handful of clothing brands, Planet X just survived with a buyout & race teams are folding. all over the place It's grim times in the bike business.
 

RoJo

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Apr 24, 2019
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I hate to say it but bike-discount.de has much more up to date relevant stock at much better prices. Import tax is the only advantage that CRC/wiggle have. You can't even buy a Zeb from CRC 🤷‍♂️
 

Mikerb

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May 16, 2019
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It makes you wonder how many bike brands have similar problems. So many 2022 bikes still at anything up to 30% discount is bound to make it difficult selling 2023 bikes at full price......so they will probably also have to be discounted.
 

irie

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"it is the belief of SSU management that the market disruptions associated with market overstock are likely to persist into late FY24".

Not surprised given that 2023 models are already being discounted
 
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RustyMTB

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Sniffing around, it appears the ultimate owners are real global high rollers in real estate & retail. If things are as dire as appears, wouldn't surprise me if they just bin the loss making stuff off as an afterthought.
 

Shjay

Well-known member
Apr 30, 2019
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Kent
Hotlines are also the in-house Distributors, all their stuff is sold through Wiggle not sure if owned by wiggle or just collaborate with them. They also distribute to all the shops in U.K., one of theirs being Nukeproof they might be able to take over CRC warranties they haven’t been mentioned in any of this
 

Dax

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May 25, 2018
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Well I blame the useless re design of the CRC Web site!!

It is pretty terrible! I was already boycotting crc because their customer service got terrible after the merge with wiggle, but tried to use the new site the other day and it’s comically appalling
 

Zimmerframe

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It is pretty terrible! I was already boycotting crc because their customer service got terrible after the merge with wiggle, but tried to use the new site the other day and it’s comically appalling
I'm struggling with the site. It's just not easy to find things. You shouldn't have to use google to sub search a website in order to find things when they're trying to sell those things.

I did have to contact customer services recently about something though and they were in fairness excellent in their response time, helpfulness and resolution.
 

Dax

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CRC was an excellent company, really good customer service and with a wide range of bike stuff. It became my first port of call for anything to do with bikes and I spent loads of money with them. Then they sold out to Wiggle and the rot set in.

It’s really great to see since crc/wiggle went down the pan, a ton of small independent bike shops have sprung up to do great mail order service. It makes buying a bit harder, but tweeks/Merlin/tredz/winstanleys/biketart/team cycles are now a great alternative
 

steve_sordy

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Nov 5, 2018
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It’s really great to see since crc/wiggle went down the pan, a ton of small independent bike shops have sprung up to do great mail order service. It makes buying a bit harder, but tweeks/Merlin/tredz/winstanleys/biketart/team cycles are now a great alternative
The only one from that list that I haven't been dealing with for quite a few years is team cycles. I have little doubt that they have all benefitted from CRC/Wiggle's problems.

Is that automated warehouse that CRC built still being used?

Edit: This one:
 

Goat

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Jan 19, 2023
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Ireland
The only one from that list that I haven't been dealing with for quite a few years is team cycles. I have little doubt that they have all benefitted from CRC/Wiggle's problems.

Is that automated warehouse that CRC built still being used?

Edit: This one:

That was closed and 300 jobs axed when Wiggle bought them out and moved everything to Wolverhampton. CRC were a great sponsor for MTB events in Ireland north and south before the buyout. Vitus is still based in Belfast and they sponsor both main Enduro series in Ireland so it would be a big loss to the scene here if they go under. Plus they do make really solid great value bikes!
 

Rob Rides EMTB

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Just picking up here.

Allegedly, one of the brands that sit under SIGNA have filed for insolvency (as far as I can tell its not CRC / Wiggle).

Who are the brands in this group?

Signa Sports United has 80 online sites and partners with 500 shops in serving over 6.7 million customers worldwide. The SSU group includes Tennis-Point, Tennis Pro, Tennis Express, WiggleCRC, Fahrrad.de, Bikester, Probikeshop, Campz, Addnature and Outfitter.

At the moment, BIKESTER have a banner on their websites across Europe that no returns are allowed. This is NOT a good sign. Their german site, fahhrad.de also has this banner.


Screenshot 2023-10-19 at 16.18.21.png


The only reference to this so far is in this text, in their returns policy on the website:

"ATTENTION: We are currently unable to process returns for internal reasons and we will inform you as soon as the problem is resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience caused."

What does this mean?
Well, it could mean that they are receiving no shipping internally, and have instructed shippers to stop any incoming (or outgoing goods). This could be due to the operational and financial difficulties, or it could be a result of insolvency proceedings where they need to manage liabilities and cash flows carefully.

At the moment there's no such banner on CRC / Wiggle side and it seems to be operating as normal.
 
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Zimmerframe

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Just picking up here.

Allegedly, one of the brands that sit under SIGNA have filed for insolvency (as far as I can tell its not CRC / Wiggle).

Who are the brands in this group?

Signa Sports United has 80 online sites and partners with 500 shops in serving over 6.7 million customers worldwide. The SSU group includes Tennis-Point, Tennis Pro, Tennis Express, WiggleCRC, Fahrrad.de, Bikester, Probikeshop, Campz, Addnature and Outfitter.

At the moment, BIKESTER have a banner on their websites across Europe that no returns are allowed. This is NOT a good sign. Their german site, fahhrad.de also has this banner.


View attachment 127217

The only reference to this so far is in this text, in their returns policy on the website:

"ATTENTION: We are currently unable to process returns for internal reasons and we will inform you as soon as the problem is resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience caused."

What does this mean?
Well, it could mean that they are receiving no shipping internally, and have instructed shippers to stop any incoming (or outgoing goods). This could be due to the operational and financial difficulties, or it could be a result of insolvency proceedings where they need to manage liabilities and cash flows carefully.

At the moment there's no such banner on CRC / Wiggle side and it seems to be operating as normal.
When I spoke with Bikester with regard to returns (the fork) they said they were experiencing a far higher than normal number of returns so the processing time would be longer than usual. Maybe they're just clearing their backlog ?

They also refunded straight away my (or I think they did :) ) my bike shop charge for the motor check.

I guess a lot depends on Rene Benko and what he's decided he's willing to do now - or not do !

As you say though, bikester is all part of INTERNETSTORES GMBH.

You could get the spoof and call Stephan Zoll : +49 175 2905060, [email protected] - think he's still the Signa boss.

I suspect the returns problem is because on the 4th they (internetstores) shut down one of their main return depots in Esslingen (and laid everyone off - this had been in the works for months and they'd been building upto it) and outsourced everything to Rhenus, who were supposed to do the same thing but from Hockenheim - it might be that this has been a huge great feck up ...
 

Rob Rides EMTB

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Jan 14, 2018
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When I spoke with Bikester with regard to returns (the fork) they said they were experiencing a far higher than normal number of returns so the processing time would be longer than usual. Maybe they're just clearing their backlog ?

They also refunded straight away my (or I think they did :) ) my bike shop charge for the motor check.

I guess a lot depends on Rene Benko and what he's decided he's willing to do now - or not do !

As you say though, bikester is all part of INTERNETSTORES GMBH.

You could get the spoof and call Stephan Zoll : +49 175 2905060, [email protected] - think he's still the Signa boss.

I suspect the returns problem is because on the 4th they (internetstores) shut down one of their main return depots in Esslingen (and laid everyone off - this had been in the works for months and they'd been building upto it) and outsourced everything to Rhenus, who were supposed to do the same thing but from Hockenheim - it might be that this has been a huge great feck up ...
Yes possibly. Although, they say they cannot take any returns at the moment, which alarm raises alarm bells (is it even legal?)

30 days free return, but no returns processing possible!

Screenshot 2023-10-19 at 17.08.52.png


"Returns print
Modified on: Thu, 19 Oct, 2023 at 8:53 AM


We are currently unable to process returns for internal reasons and will inform you as soon as the problem is resolved. We apologize."
 

RustyMTB

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Jul 22, 2020
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One thing I know from my industry - you get a whiff of a customer going skint, you withdraw services sharpish, work pro forma only and/or place a lien on goods. No idea if this is the case here but it wouldn't surprise me if those brands are operating from one or two big warehouses with a single transport supplier. They down tools, your business grinds to a halt.

I have a return in with Wiggle right now, I wonder if I'll get stitched up?
 

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