BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The company is still trading and is a going concern, a Reynolds spokesman told BikeBiz today.
As reported two months ago on this website, the US parent company of Reynolds was put into Chapter 11 pre-bankruptcy in America. Coyote Sports Inc (not related to the US bike brand of the same name) owned Apollo, a golf shaft maker, and Reynolds Cycle Technology. Both companies had cross guarantees against each other and a ripple effect from this is believed to be the cause of todays collapse.
The two business had a collective turnover of £8.5m and employed 260 people.
David Wilton of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the appointed receivers, said he would prefer to sell Apollo and Reynolds as a job lot but that a split would also be countenanced:
There is significant interest in the businesses…We very much hope we will be able to sell the businesses as going concerns…While it would be preferable to sell both businesses to a single buyer, offers for just one of the manufacturing businesses will also be considered.
Tube supplies from Reynolds are not affected so far, the company is keen to stress, but manufacturers such as St. John Street Cycles, the Bridgewater IBD who rely heavily on Reynolds tubes are no doubt concerned that should a buyer not be confirmed quickly they will have to scramble to get stocks of equivalent tubing from elsewhere.
Steel is not the material of choice for most of the big bike brands (although 853 went down a storm in the States, being specced by the likes of Trek) so Reynolds have recently been expanding their interests in aluminium and other in vogue materials as well as sourcing tubing in the Far East.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Tel: 0121 2003000.
