More cycling industry woes as Probikeshop enters administration

The cycling industry crisis has deepened, with France’s leading online bike retailer, Probikeshop, following its cousin company Wiggle CRC into administration.

Probikeshop, which also operates in several other European territories, is controlled by InternetStores, a subsidiary of Signa Sports United, the conglomerate that owns Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles and other cycling brands.

On Tuesday, French press agency AFP reported that Probikeshop had gone into administration due to financial difficulties. The company was placed into what is known as ‘judicial administration’, in an order handed down by a business tribunal in Lyon.

As is the case with Wiggle CRC, the administrators are now seeking buyers for the business, with a deadline of 1 December set for the submission of bids.

Read more: 'Considerable interest' as Wiggle CRC administrators launch sales process

According to AFP, Probikeshop’s turnover had dropped from €150 million (£130m/$160.7m) in 2021, to just €57m (£49.7m/$61.1m). The company, which was created in 2005, was bought by InternetStores in 2017, and its depot moved from France to Germany in 2022. The number of employees since dropped from nearly 300 to a reported 120.

Probikeshop’s situation is yet more evidence of a floundering industry, with retailers struggling to adapt to the slump that has followed the mid-pandemic boom, amid other contributory factors such as the global economic impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Signa Sports filed for insolvency in early October, and Wiggle CRC, already a merger between two large UK retailers, went into administration in late October. The new bosses quickly made a round of redundancies while pitching the business to potential buyers in a process that remains ongoing.

Islabikes, a much-loved manufacturer of children’s bikes, also recently announced it would cease production after 18 years, while Raleigh has set out a major restructure that will involve numerous job cuts.

These industry woes were explored in a recent episode of the GCN Show, which you can watch below.