Wiggle cuts 105 jobs after going into administration

Online cycling retailer Wiggle Chain Reaction Cycles has laid off over 100 member of staff after entering administration last week. 

A source told Cycling Weekly that the company - which appointed FRP Advisory as administrators just over a week ago - had made redundancies across a number of sites "with immediate effect".   

In a statement, the administrators told Cycling Weekly: "The Joint Administrators are proposing to launch a sale process for WiggleCRC and have already received interest from several parties. Regrettably, the financial position of the business means that it has been necessary to make a number of redundancies to allow the business to continue to trade in readiness of the proposed sales process.

"In total 105 people have been made redundant, with the remaining c.500 staff retained to support the operation of the business. This decision was not taken lightly, and we will provide all affected employees with support in making claims to the Redundancy Payments Service."

Cycling Weekly understands the redundancies were announced on Tuesday.

One former Wiggle employee affected by the cuts wrote on LinkedIn on Wednesday morning: "This is my first day I've been unemployed since I was 15 years old, so 20 years of waking up and knowing exactly what I needed to do that day. 

"Today is the weirdest feeling and not one I feel I want to get used to."

Another former employee, who listed his job role as SEO content manager, wrote: "It's the end of the ride at Wiggle.

"Unfortunately myself and a number of colleagues have been made redundant with the business going into administration so I am on the lookout for a fresh challenge." 

A spokesperson from the administrators confirmed to Cycling Weekly that, of the 105 people made redundant, 70 were from Wiggle, 28 from Chain Reaction Cycles and seven from distributor Hotlines. 

In terms of company sites, this equates to 55 in Portsmouth, 13 in Wolverhampton, 30 in Belfast and seven in Edinburgh.  

The raft of redundancies at WiggleCRC come as the administrators prepare the business for sale. 

The company is already in discussions with potential buyers, with Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group reported by Sky News to be an interested party. 

Ashley has already agreed to purchase SportScheck, a German chain which, like WiggleCRC, is a subsidiary of Signa Sports United (SSU), the parent company that had €150 million (£130 million) of financing guarantees terminated by its ultimate parent company, Signa Holdings, in October. 

The most recent company accounts from WiggleCRC - covering activities to 30 September 2022 - show a pre-tax loss of over £97 million. An accompanying statement by chief finance officer Adrian Bruce explained that the group was "suffering from the aftereffects of the Covid pandemic", with directors also pointing to Brexit as a factor in the difficulties. 

The administrators have stressed that "all operations are running as normal" while a buyer is sought.