Portsmouth based Wiggle CRC to lay off all remaining staff before sale completes, reports say

It is reported that, before the sale of the company goes through, the industry giant will have to get rid of all of its staff after already losing 100 of its valued employees at the end of last year. According to Cycle News, 'the brands have been bought, but IP only – no staff or stock' and the staff are on a temporary basis.

There have been a huge number of employees taking to Linkedin to confirm that they have lost their positions at the company. One employee said that it is a 'sad way for the Wiggle story to end' and that it was not the way any of the staff 'expected to go'.

WiggleCRC, which has its headquarters in Lakeside, North Harbour, appointed FRP Advisory as administrators and the online giant was put up for sale towards the end of last year. As of October 31, 2023, the company laid off about 100 of its 1,000 staff across its bases in Portsmouth and Belfast and its 320,000sq ft warehouse in Wolverhampton.

The company started life in 1995 as Butler’s Cycles before moving into online retail as Wiggle in 1999. It became WiggleCRC in 2016 when it merged with its main rival, Chain Reaction Cycles, combining the two largest companies in the UK online cycle retail market. In 2021 the company was acquired by Signa Sports United (SSU) based in Berlin. Before the takeover, Wiggle CRC was the eighth largest privately owned company in the Solent region, with a turnover of £311m.

There have been rumours as to who the potential buyers could be - but as of yet there has been no confirmation who will be purchasing the brand. It is also believed that the retailer has a total of £26.6m worth of debt owing multiple retailers, suppliers and brands money according to financial reports from the administrators.