Evans going bust?

Mad-One

Just been told by a local independant cycle retailer than Evans Cycles are 'showing signs of going into receivership.'
Any truth in this is it just wishful thinking on his behalf?

pintoo

Sounds like sour grapes to me. What "signs"?

spanielsson

Doesn't Mike Ashley now own them?!

OffTheBackAdam

Funny, someone joins this forum just to post this rumour.

RockyHopperShow

Considering that cycling is going through a bit of a boom period I find this rumour less than convincing. Added to that Evans' Cycle2Work scheme, the number of shops in "Commuter-ville" and their vast selection of bikes I would think that there would be signs of other retailers strugggling first.

beverick

spanielsson wrote:

Doesn't Mike Ashley now own them?!

Nah. He lost the auction in April. A private equity fund bought in.

Bob

avoidingmyphd

what are the signs of going into receivership exactly?

Monty Dog

If they we're able to keep payments up their suppliers or there was a change in their credit terms, it would go around the trade pretty quickly. It also depends on their levels of debt and how highly leveraged their borrowing is - they have expanded pretty quickly in the last few years which can seriously impact their cash flow and liquidity, and with cheap capital being hard to get at the mo, even though they are trading well, they could still go bust because they don't have the cash to pay the bills. Likewise, their new owners could have put what they paid for the company on the balance sheet and therefore all their cash is paying the debt and not their suppliers.

meagain

"UNable" in line 1, Monty D?
Yup, as sales increase so does working capital requirement - if as now in cycle trade (or so it appears) prices the retailer pays for stock are increasing, problem exacerbated. If simultaneously cost of supply of credit to the retailer increases - or even dries up - then a BIG problem.
Possible that the terms on which retailers are supplied are being tightened as the manfrs/wholesalers are squeezed in the same way.
Called the vicious circle of recession....

edhornby

also, they could have issues with commercial insurance that they have in place to cover ttheir ability to pay - so all the suppliers want full cash upfront rather than ongoing credit terms... which is what did for woolies

tonyw43

It's basically the Northern Rock syndrome. Someone says Evans are in trouble, which causes Evans to be in trouble. Northern Rock were not in trouble when the papers ran the story. Northern Rock were simply borrowing money from the international monetary fund, like all banks do on a day to day basis. But 90% of the general public don't know this. So once this story runs, and the papers say the bank is in trouble, the public run and withdraw all their money. It is this that caused the problems for Northern Rock, as suddenly they have no money to invest. So if people say Evans are in trouble, suppliers will start to wonder about supplying stock, creditors will start pulling money in early, instead of waiting for the 30day terms which are probably agreed, and lo and behold, the business is in trouble because of a rumour.

nicklouse

dont we get this topic each year at about this time?

Out of Pocket Primary Sch

Hi - logged on to your forum via Google as I was searching for anything that might point to a reason why Evans aren't paying our bill or returning our calls. We are a primary school in Bucks and entered into a letting agreement with Evans. They signed an agreement to hire our premises, which they duly did, for two days over the weekend at the end of July. They paid a deposit up front, but despite having a successful event (cycle racing) that was by all accounts very busy, they have failed to respond to the invoice sent to them for the balance in September, on our return to school. I have made numerous calls to Evans head office, but the accounts payable department don't answer the phone- there is a voicemail which invites you to leave a message, and none of our calls have ever been returned.

As this is taking money directly from our school children (we incurred costs for caretaking overtime, energy etc), we think this is pretty poor behaviour. But then if private equity is involved, I guess scruples tend to go out of the window these days..

spen666

hmmm interesting that the people making claims re Evans are ALL first time posters.

someone got a grudge against Evans?

Out of Pocket Primary Sch

Hmmn- interesting, almost as if Evans employ a resident cynic to combat poor publicity..yes, we do have a grudge- they haven't paid their bill. The circumstances of why I logged on have been clearly explained. FYI I have never visited any forum before, but felt it might be helpful to find out genuine information about other peoples' experiences.

avoidingmyphd

these allegations are pretty specific. looks to me they are that evans haven't paid the school that hosted the stokenchurch ride it event in july.

maybe evans can comment?

out of pocket primary sch. you'll have to forgive our cynicism. first time posters with unusual information usually turn out to be deceptive.

meagain

Short sell now if I were you. spen!

spen666

meagain wrote:

Short sell now if I were you. spen!

Me?

I'm no fan or supporter of Evans at all.

I avoid the place if I can and don't have shares in companies like that. I prefer the nuclear power station companies and Huntingdon Life Sciences

Le Commentateur

So Evans were acquired by private equity speculators, were they? Oh dear, they -- the speculators -- tend to be ones with the cash flow problems at the moment. When did the credit crunch really bite hard -- September, wasn't it?

top_bhoy

TonyW43 wrote:

It's basically the Northern Rock syndrome. Someone says Evans are in trouble, which causes Evans to be in trouble. Northern Rock were not in trouble when the papers ran the story. Northern Rock were simply borrowing money from the international monetary fund, like all banks do on a day to day basis. But 90% of the general public don't know this. So once this story runs, and the papers say the bank is in trouble, the public run and withdraw all their money. It is this that caused the problems for Northern Rock, as suddenly they have no money to invest. So if people say Evans are in trouble, suppliers will start to wonder about supplying stock, creditors will start pulling money in early, instead of waiting for the 30day terms which are probably agreed, and lo and behold, the business is in trouble because of a rumour.

mmmm...from memory, Northern Rock were in trouble before it hit the news. It was the collapse of the share price which brought it into the media focus. Of course they borrowed money on the international money markets (they had relatively little in the way of deposits) and that was the problem, that money market at that time had virtually frozen and no-one was lending to anyone. This caused a lack of liquidity and it was a downward spiral for Northern Rock as people withdrew their cash - but that was hardly the depositors problem.

Out of Pocket Primary Sch

I am happy to report that Evans have made contact and the issue is now in the process of being sorted. They have also asked to rebook for next year (and this time they are happy to pay in full up front). I am grateful to Dean for getting it sorted out, and thanks to you Forum-ites for your responses [/img]

Justpush

Out of Pocket Primary Sch wrote:

I am happy to report that Evans have made contact and the issue is now in the process of being sorted. They have also asked to rebook for next year (and this time they are happy to pay in full up front). I am grateful to Dean for getting it sorted out, and thanks to you Forum-ites for your responses [/img]

I'm taking this as a genuine post, but the more I've thought about it the less convinced I am by Evans behaviour.

They are around 4-5 months in arrears of paying what can only be a small invoice.
Then a public forum they get named and shamed. Bingo they pay up right away! And to top up it all,are willing to book and pay up front for next year.
Call me cynical but if the event was such a success why didn't they book next years date right away? Or did they hope to find another school to rip off.

Seems an appropriate time to remind folks that you if things go wrong with an order you're only covered if it is over £100 and you've paid by credit card.

spen666

Justpush wrote:

....
Seems an appropriate time to remind folks that you if things go wrong with an order you're only covered if it is over £100 and you've paid by credit card.

Think that is not quite the full truth.


If you mean that if you pay for items over £100 on your credit card, then you have the same rights you have/ would have had against the retailer, then you are correct

carbonfiend

I've had an issue with Evans involving a Trek 9.9 hardtail that was faulty and I have had them upgrage my Sworks HT as well and spent shitloads doing it (Stans rims, DT Swiss Hubbs, XTR etc etc) did an great job and can only say they have been fantastic. They really fought my corner with Trek and at the end of the issue where out of pocket themselves and I ended up with the new S Works HT I got to know the lads at the Liverpool St shop and can only speak really highly of them. As for them going bust I'm about to take delivery of a new S Works HT so not sure there is any truth in that???

Justpush

spen666 wrote:

Justpush wrote:

....
Seems an appropriate time to remind folks that you if things go wrong with an order you're only covered if it is over £100 and you've paid by credit card.

Think that is not quite the full truth.


If you mean that if you pay for items over £100 on your credit card, then you have the same rights you have/ would have had against the retailer, then you are correct

I thought this thread was about a retailer going bust?
Did I miss something?

bellys

keep it up people at this rate next week i will get a new bike cheap. once people think there is a prob with a company then every body avoids them ie northen rock unless there they can get some thing cheap (woolworths) Evens is a big company so i dont think this is true BUT you never know. if it is true then there will be some good buys as they buy in bulk so they get them cheap and can cut the price to clear there stock.

Tonymufc

Hooray for the rumour mill.!! Its also true that the world is going to end on Jan 1st. We're all DOOMED I tell you DOOOOOMED!!!!!!!

missmarple

Hahaha, whilst we're at it - Gordon Brown is a communist in disguise and the government are secretly planning tot ax all cyclists in London.

Kléber

TonyW43 wrote:

It's basically the Northern Rock syndrome. Someone says Evans are in trouble, which causes Evans to be in trouble. Northern Rock were not in trouble when the papers ran the story. Northern Rock were simply borrowing money from the international monetary fund, like all banks do on a day to day basis. But 90% of the general public don't know this.

The bank failed because it couldn't fund itself, investors realised this and its share price and credit default ratings had reacted according long before the panic started by the BBC. The BBC's report merely accelerated the freefall but the game was up by then. Just look at the other banks, Bradford and Bingley, Alliance and Leicester, HBOS and others have all collapsed.

As for Evans, I think it's fine but no doubt the new owners will probably find their forecasts for the business won't prove as rosy as they once were.

wildmoustache

TonyW43 wrote:

It's basically the Northern Rock syndrome. Someone says Evans are in trouble, which causes Evans to be in trouble. Northern Rock were not in trouble when the papers ran the story. Northern Rock were simply borrowing money from the international monetary fund, like all banks do on a day to day basis. But 90% of the general public don't know this. So once this story runs, and the papers say the bank is in trouble, the public run and withdraw all their money. It is this that caused the problems for Northern Rock, as suddenly they have no money to invest. So if people say Evans are in trouble, suppliers will start to wonder about supplying stock, creditors will start pulling money in early, instead of waiting for the 30day terms which are probably agreed, and lo and behold, the business is in trouble because of a rumour.

Yes - I must get down there and buy a bicycle before they go under!

Fundamentally Evans are in a strong position but as others have said with the cost of debt and stock rising, and lower than anticipated demand from consumers it will be a much tougher year than they would have forecast a year ago.

spen666

wildmoustache wrote:

...
Yes - I must get down there and buy a bicycle before they go under!

Fundamentally Evans are in a strong position but as others have said with the cost of debt and stock rising, and lower than anticipated demand from consumers it will be a much tougher year than they would have forecast a year ago.

Where does the "lower than anticipated demand from consumers " come from?

I thought bike shops were seeing an upturn in their business as people turn from cars to bikes