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news
Wiggle Haribo (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED/Flickr by With Associates)WiggleCRC owed Haribo £20,000, plus millions of pounds to other cycling brands, administrator's proposal document reveals
The extent of money owed by WiggleCRC to brands across the bike industry has been laid bare in the recently published administrator's report outlining the state of play since the online cycling retailer entered administration in October.
Two weeks ago, we reported that administrators are "optimistic" about the prospect of selling the business, with Wiggle making a "considerable trading profit" during the administration period involving the Black Friday sales and run up to Christmas.
However, the administrator's report, published on Companies House, also highlights a significant list of individuals and brands from across the cycling industry and beyond who were owed money at the time Wiggle entered administration, although it is also worth mentioning that in speaking to sources road.cc learnt that some creditors mentioned have since been paid in full.
Haribo is listed as being owed £20,275 by WiggleCRC, but did not respond to a request for comment, while major UK distributors Madison and Extra UK LTD are listed as due £1,095,272 and £925,614 respectively. Also at the top end of the scale are Taiwan-based manufacturer Ideal Bike Corporation, listed as being owed £1,291,050, Garmin Europe Limited (£853,762), Saddleback (£815,082), Science in Sport (£662,558), POC Sweden (£507,968), Selle Italia (£400,922), Endura (£387,329), and Vittoria (£208,920).
From speaking to figures within the bike industry road.cc understands some debts have been paid in full since Wiggle entered administration, while other brands may in fact be owed less than the stated figure due to contractual factors.
British-based brands such as Raleigh (£235,781) and Muc-Off (£99,647) are also listed as being owed the aforementioned debts.
An industry source also suggested the scale of Wiggle's business means the company may "not be necessarily that far behind, it could be a monthly turnover that they have not paid once, and that is half a million pounds to some of these companies".
Speaking from their role at a company who had been paid in full, they pointed out the administrator's statement also only notes the debts owed when Wiggle entered administration in October, not as of mid-December when the report was published - for example, road.cc's own parent company Farrelly Atkinson Ltd is listed as being owed £720, that the company understands has now been paid. However, the industry source says they are aware of other brands who have not yet been paid.
The administrator's proposal notes that it was agreed following consultation with management "that the best course of action was to continue to trade the business while a buyer was sought."
Wiggle entered administration in the weeks of heavy retail activity leading up to the Black Friday sales and Christmas shopping period, something which is reflected in the report, administrators saying trading had been "very positive during the administration process" with a "considerable trading profit achieved".
> Is it safe to spend with troubled retail giant Wiggle Chain Reaction?
The administrators added that they had "taken the opportunity to augment stock held within the business with opportunistic purchases to generate additional website traffic and profits".
Heavy discounts have continued beyond Black Friday, Wiggle's website currently promoting an 'Epic Winter Sale' with up to 70 per cent savings on offer.
Wiggle Chain Reaction recorded a pre-tax loss of over £97 million in 2022, compared to £14.5 million for the previous year, as the company's former chief finance officer blamed the aftereffects of Covid, Brexit, and ongoing economic uncertainty for the significant drop.
Alarm bells began to ring in the autumn of last year, Wiggle Chain Reaction's parent company Signa Sports United (SSU) reporting "severe liquidity and profitability challenges" and announcing the delisting of its shares. As a result, SSU's €150 million funding commitment from its own parent company, Signa Holding, was withdrawn and in turn painted an increasingly bleak picture for Wiggle and the group's other cycling business, which include Bikester, Probikeshop, and Farrhad.de.
By mid-October, word was spreading of Wiggle's reported impending entry into administration, news confirmed shortly afterwards.
Wiggle Chain Reaction was put up for sale as its parent company filed for insolvency, the month of November beginning with more bad news as 105 redundancies were announced.
Administrators reported "considerable interest" for the business from potential buyers, Mike Ashley's Frasers Group which owns Evans Cycles rumoured to be one such party, and in last month's report the administrators said they remained "optimistic" over the possibility of a sale.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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57 comments
Fish have faces do they not? I suppose your mindset would fly with something like an oyster though.
Fishes don't have faces as they don't have ears, a nose or a chin.
Just to clarify - I have never eaten, nor plan to eat Billy the Fish.
Good old Billy the fish!
Well they have ears, just not external ones. Chin... debatable.
I'll give you no nose, but they have nostrils.
Well, they can't wear a pair of glasses, so they obviously don't qualify for having a face
That's odd - I'm sure I've seen mention of fish-eye lenses. Perhaps they prefer contacts, what with the lack of ears?
What about Golden Moles? Are they (like Capybara) fish on fridays? They've a nose, true, but don't have external eyes, ears or a noticable chin...
Can't recall seeing them down my local Tesco
They sometimes have this one from Potts?
I do indeed enjoy a tasty mole poblano from time to time and also guacamole
Bit plastic-y for me.
Nor do clocks, watches, or cliffs.
Well, clocks and watches are often fixed by engin-ears and cliffs often have mountain-ears on them
A philosophical choice, not a political one. ☝🏼
'Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.'
I think it's both as vegans will often try to influence others with the aim of stopping exploitation and cruelty to animals. I agree with the general idea, but I do have some merino wool products and possibly an old leather belt somewhere.
For sure, there are politics in play as in the grand scheme of things we want the current broken system to be changed, but the actual motivational driver for a person to align their actions with their belief system isn't politics.
Thankfully I've never liked the feel of merino so its a non issue for me. Hardest part was getting my motorcycle gear up to scratch, though.
I don't disagree with that but veganism is definitely more political than vegetarianism and there's nothing wrong with that.
I do agree with much of veganism, but I would find it a lot more difficult finding food to eat if I gave up eggs, fish and dairy products. Unfortunately, a lot of vegan products in shops rely on a lot of wheat which is problematic for me, so I'd have a very restricted diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts and some select grains - that's almost a fruitarian diet.
I don't personally eat many vegan 'replacement meat' products, but my diet certainly isn't restricted - it's full of legumes, vegetables, tofu, nuts, soy etc. I eat the same meals, enjoy the same flavours and my health is in the best shape of its life. It really isn't that hard.
If you want to be vegan because you truly care about animals (first and foremost) then adapting your diet is really a non issue. Having said this , i was not vegan a few years back so i do fully appreciate that it feels like a massive life change. Thankfully its a game changer!
Anyway, sort of back on topic (if there even is one), i don't understand why all vegan sweets can't be free of animals? I get chocolate because of dairy, but not sweets...
With sweets, a lot of companies just use gelatine because it's cheap and what they've always used rather than switching over to using pectin instead (possibly xantham gum).
I'm not going to evangelise, it's your personal choice, but I just will point out that tofu is gluten-free (try pressing it to get the water out, I've only just started doing that and it makes it a ten times more interesting product) and there a wide range of gluten-free vegan products available nowadays, including a lot of the Marks & Spencer Plant Kitchen range, White Rabbit pizzas, a substantial amount of the Linda McCartney range and so on.
I do eat tofu now and again. I'm surprised about M&S (not that I shop there) as when I first started eating vegetarian (approx 30 years ago) their prepared food was almost totally meat based - even simple things like egg fried rice would have little bits of ham added etc. Also, the Linda McCartney range used to use extensive amounts of gluten - when I made a connection between gluten consumption and my health, it explained why I never got on with her sausages.
If you like tofu, have a read of this article I came across the other day: https://asteriskmag.com/issues/02/america-doesn-t-know-tofu
Interesting article thanks, quite agree, tofu as cooked by Chinese, Japanese, Thai or other Far Eastern chefs is nothing like the insipid flabby stuff a lot of Westerners serve up.
Yeah M&S have really gone for it, I shop there a fair bit because it's my nearest "minimart" and there's a full size one half a mile further on. Some incredible vegan alternatives available. Not cheap, mind.
Sounds about right - maybe the odd insect too. https://howlongdosquirrelslive.com/squirrel-food-pyramid-2/
I gave my packets away and then didn't buy from them again.
A few percent in sales of a big business does seem significant to me. Perhaps not if it had much bigger problems though.
+1 here! My son is Type 1 diabetic also so Haribo are a great and cheap (or indeed sometimes free when I used wiggle) treatment for low blood sugar.
And I doubt branded energy gels, powders, blocks have genuinely anymore nutritional value. Other than to provide the same glucose hit.
As per other comments also though, I'm surprised the Haribo wasn't product placement though.
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