Halfords to buy Wiggle?

[frank9755]

It's on Mergermarket this morning. There seems to be a sale process underway. There will be an auction whereby it will go to the highest bidder. Other private equity firms will be interested but if Halfords, or another trade buyer (eg Evans...?) wanted it, they'd be likely to pay more. I would say another possible would be Amazon. They are moving way beyond books and recently acquired Lovefilm.





Wiggle mandates Rothschild to explore sale or stock market listing - report


Wiggle, the UK-based online bicycle retailer, has mandated Rothschild to explore strategic options, Mark Kleinman reported in its blog on Sky News. According to the report, which cited unspecified sources, the appointment could lead to a sale or a stock market listing that would value Wiggle at over GBP 200m (EUR 223.2m).


Wiggle´s main shareholders, Isis Equity Partners, is expected to sell within the next 12 months, the report went on to say. The buyout firm acquired the retailer in 2006 for GBP 12m.


The report said that Wiggle had received several expressions of interest. Likely suitors include Halfords, Keinman noted citing financial sources.


Wiggle posted GBP 55m (EUR 61.3m) sales in 2010, the report added.


Source : Sky News

 

[skudupnorth]

I hope they keep the Haribo tradition going if they buy them !

 

[StuAff]

Wiggle use a number of parcel delivery firms as well as the Post Office.

Indeed. They also use City Link, which probably explains why I'm still waiting on my latest order though it was sent out Thursday (despite possible accusations of bias, I never have this problem when they use RM!).

 

[Sheepy1209]

If one of the online retailers started telling me which courier would be used before committing to an order, or gave me a choice, that would be a real differentiator for me - at the moment most of them don't and the big operations use several different ones (Amazon for example).

Here in Blackpool I'm only aware of one courier with a local depot, most are the other side of Preston, the furthest one I've had to deal with (TNT) is in Rawtenstall. Royal Mail has a collection point less than a mile away, and there's a Post Office even closer than that.

Add to that the fact that the Royal Mail people get to know the neighbourhood, for instance the fact that our neighbour is a pensioner who's at home during the day and happy to take our parcels. The couriers just drop a card through the letterbox.

If we can't choose our courier, or have the option of stopping the order process when it's one we don't like, how do the retailers know which couriers give a good service and which a poor one?

On the Wiggle front: I got back into cycling two years ago, and thought Wiggle were really good, but gradually as I've found more competitors I now buy from Wiggle very rarely. Most of my orders seem to go to either Chain Reaction or to one of the ebay retailers such as Highonbikes - many of whom I suspect are at heart LBS's. Of course, Wiggle is much broader than just cycling and it would be interesting to know how competitive its other niches are.

 

[Rebel Ian]

Add to that the fact that the Royal Mail people get to know the neighbourhood, for instance the fact that our neighbour is a pensioner who's at home during the day and happy to take our parcels. The couriers just drop a card through the letterbox.

Many carriers will only leave safe if they are permitted to do so by their customer, i.e. Wiggle. If the customer says they need a signature they have no alternative but to leave an attempted delivery card.

 

[frank9755]

That's one of the reasons I've pretty much stopped using Wiggle, too! It's a pain when you are at work and it takes ages to get the delivery. In the past I've told them not to bother and just got a refund.

 

[Muddy Ground]

Not used Wiggle for ages; try to, but they are invariably out of stock of what I'm after. Superstar and CRC seem to be the bigger players now, and I've also gone back to STIF who seem very good. Quite a few sellers are on eBay also, so price comparisons and stock availability is easier to judge [Wiggle and Winstanley come up on Google but rarely have what you're after]. Keep getting £5 discount vouchers to go back to Wiggle, but have never bothered. Thus I care not who owns Wiggle anymore... As for the sweets, a lot do that.

MG

 

[Glover Fan]

Wow, bought wiggle for £12m in 2006 and might be selling at £200m, not a bad investment.

 

[Woz!]

Speak as you find but our local Halfords (Bracknell) has good staff that are enthusiastic cyclists (just look at their bike tats!) and are quick to offer help. Several times I've had good advice from them about BMX bikes, which my son rides and I don't.
Woudn't buy one of their own-brand BMX's though.

I think there's a lot of pointless snobbery about them. I've known some terrible work from LBS's - a badly assembled BB falling apart on one of my friend's bikes for one.

 

[frank9755]

Wow, bought wiggle for £12m in 2006 and might be selling at £200m, not a bad investment.

I pulled their accounts today out of curiosity. 2010 profits were just £7 million. They were £4m in 09 so might make £10 or £11m this year. So they are still growing fast (despite all of us on this thread who don't use them any more!) but I think that £200m is on the optimistic side. Halfords is not exactly in great shape to buy them so they may end up having to float it.

 

[Mawsley]

I appreciate that it is obviously bad form on this forum to admit appreciation for any aspect of the Halfords brand - but I like them. They are convenient and a damn sight more customer focussed than my nearest LBS. Some of the comments people make about them just make me cringe.

And as for waiting for deliveries - http://www.useyourlocal.com

If your local doesn't do it yet then point this site out to them. If they still don't after that then they don't deserve your money for their over-priced beer.

I've enjoyed two quiet pints recently picking my stuff up from the pub.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I appreciate that it is obviously bad form on this forum to admit appreciation for any aspect of the Halfords brand - but I like them. They are convenient and a damn sight more customer focussed than my nearest LBS. Some of the comments people make about them just make me cringe.

And as for waiting for deliveries - http://www.useyourlocal.com

If your local doesn't do it yet then point this site out to them. If they still don't after that then they don't deserve your money for their over-priced beer.

I've enjoyed two quiet pints recently picking my stuff up from the pub.

I don't honestly think anyone's saying all Halfords are crap, I'd comfortably say no-one on here could state that as fact, (has anyone visited every site?), and if yours is a good 'un, happy days - make the most of them and enjoy it, and I'd agree that not all LBS's are the dogs gonads, but there is a far greater chance that an independant trader running an LBS as their own business will give far better service.


Most Halfords/Bikehuts are not run by avid cyclists, but by young kids just taking a wage, and they don't give a monkeys what you need, they just want to her their till go ring a ding ding!

Perhaps someone should email Halfords management a link to this site, perhaps they could then appoint some specialist trainers to get the majority of their staff upto speed before they consider buying into any large internet based businesses.

As for the pub idea - top notch, cracking idea, but not sure my Boss would agree when I nip out to pick up a parcel!

 

[Mawsley]

As for the pub idea - top notch, cracking idea, but not sure my Boss would agree when I nip out to pick up a parcel!<br />

<br /><br /><br />
Get it delivered to your local, pick it up when you get home.

If that's a problem with the home boss then get a dog and pretend to take it for a walk

 

[festival]

Although halfrauds have had a few difficult moments lately, they are a cash rich company and are looking to expand, partly to discourage potential take over bids. That's why they bought the garage servicing business recently, having sold off the same kind of set up under previous management.

They have also built up their Internet business from nothing in recent years and they believe it has only scratched the surface as far as potential goes, maybe thats were wiggle comes in?

 

[Woz!]

I don't honestly think anyone's saying all Halfords are crap

halfrauds

This attitude pervades the site and while I agree there are probably some bad branches out there, there are also some good ones.
New cyclists will look to this site for advice and based on that will possibly rule Halfords out and might miss out on good service.
I stood for 5-10 minutes in my local LBS being ignored the other weekend when looking for a brake caliper. Sadly LBS's are not all created equal.