Evans Cycles, which had been expected to sell to Halfords, has instead joined the Sports Direct stable. Sports Direct snapped the chain up for £8 million from its administrators, PwC, with £2 million of the sum paid going to fund the Evans Cycles payroll for October. Evans Cycles has 62 stores and employs around 1300 staff. It was previously owned by ECI Partners which had acquired it in 2015 for £100 million. Mike Ashley, CEO of Sports Direct commented; “We are pleased to have rescued the Evans Cycles brand. However in order to save the business we only believe we will be able to keep 50 per cent of the stores open in the future”. It is not yet known which stores will be closing or whether affected Evans Cycles staff will be offered alternative roles within the Sports Direct group.
Share