Administrators called in for online bike retailer

A company that sells bikes and cycling gear online has entered administration on the back of unfavourable trading conditions.

Mango Bikes, based in Gloucestershire, sold custom bikes for use in cities, on roads and as commuter cycles to customers across the UK via its online store.

The company was founded by two university flatmates in 2012 – Ben Harrison, a competitive mountain biker and former World Cup mechanic, and Jazz Skelton, a marketing expert – and would import parts and frames to make custom-built machines. The brand was set apart by painting their bikes in bright, neon colours.

Mango Bikes traded successfully for some years, landing £150,000 of funding from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking in 2015, which was intended to help the company create 10 jobs and expand its product range.

Over the course of the past year, however, the cost of raw materials needed for making bike parts has increased sharply, hiking up prices throughout Mango’s supply chain. Ongoing uncertainty around Brexit has only exacerbated matters.

Difficult trading conditions meant that earlier this month Harrison bought the company back for only £1, after it stacked up £250,000 and made many staff members redundant, leaving only 5 permanent staff in the firm’s Cirencester head office.

RSM Restructuring Advisory’s Steve Ross and Matthew Higgins were then appointed as joint administrators on 8 November.

Ross said: “It’s early days but we are progressing all options for the business and assets to maximise realisations for creditors."

Neither Ross nor Higgins commented on what future steps Mango Bikes would be taking, though the administrators are considering a trade sale or moving the business to a more profitable location and restructuring.

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