Merida posts £180m loss — but insists eye-watering figure a "one-time" hit and sales are up 48% in 2025

Merida made a net loss of £180m in 2024, but the Taiwanese bike brand is defiant in saying that the financial blow is just a "one-time" hit and that losses of a similar scale would not be seen again in the future.

The extraordinary figure was first reported by Bicycle Retailer and Industry News following a press conference hosted by Merida last week, the company explaining its revenue was up 8.7 per cent last year but that a one-time non-operating loss related to deferred tax assets, meant that the business had posted a net loss of NT$7.66b (£179m) in 2024.

2024 Merida Scultura Endurance Rival-Edition - riding 4.jpg (credit: road.cc)

Merida also pointed to the cycling industry's inventory woes — a factor cited yesterday as Giant reported its profits had plummeted by 60 per cent in 2024.

> Giant profits plummet by 60% as inventory woes and heavy discounting bite, but bike brand confident of "recovery" in 2025

Like Giant, Merida is confident of a recovery from last year's hit; the preliminary sales figures already noting that revenues for the first two months of 2025 are up 48 per cent. 

However, the most eye-catching part of last week's announcement remains the £179m loss, something which the bike brand attempted to explain as a "one-time" event related to its investment in Specialized, huge deferred income tax assets, and the expansion of retail properties. Ultimately, the brand insists the impairment loss was a one-time impact and that losses of similar scale would not occur again in the future. It described them as "one-off accounting losses for the year, not from operation".

Merida Industry Co. owns 35 per cent of Specialized Bicycle Company, the Taiwanese manufacturer's impairment loss related to the American bike brand's deferred tax losses and expansion of its retail stores.

"During the pandemic, numerous brands strategically acquired bike shops to gain market share. However, the market demands have shifted rapidly, leading to a decline in the valuation of these bike shops and resulted in the impairment," Merida stated, explaining that its losses due to Specialized investment came from operations (eight per cent) and deferred tax losses/write-down on valuation of Specialized retail properties (92 per cent).

Merida explained how the deferred tax loss can be used to offset its taxes on any future profits, and added that the business "remains almost debt-free with strong cash flow and market resilience". Without the impairment loss, there was still an operating loss in 2024, but Merida said this was "small" and "getting close break even".

2024 Merida Scultura 4000 - riding 5.jpg (credit: road.cc)

It also echoed the words from across the bike industry in recent times that inventory levels are returning "back to the level before Covid".

Despite the insistence the operating loss was "small" and the impairment loss to blame, the brand reported that non-operating loss was NT$3.4b (£79m), but the business's overall net loss NT$7.6b (£179m), its first since 2002.

Merida reported revenue increase of 8.7 per cent in 2024 from £637m in 2023 to £690m in 2024, with revenues for the first two months of 2025 up 48 per cent on the same months in 2024.