mjr wrote:The jury on that has not been sworn in yet, much less gone out.
I genuinely am not aware of the issues around SD, i use their shops, i understand they buy up brand names and have lower quality merchandise produced using the brands, but they also have the most miserable shop staff of any chain i have shopped in .... so your probably right ....
Evans Cycles has been sold to Mike Ashley's Sports Direct as part of a pre-pack administration. The business, which had been seeking a new owner, went into administration on Tuesday and was then immediately sold to three companies controlled by Sports Direct.
Mike Ashley says he will only be able to keep around half of the current 60 Evans Cycles shops open, which means more retail jobs are now on the line.
'2018 has been a very difficult trading year for the business, in part due to the impact of the extended winter weather, but also due to a lack of cash to invest in stores and develop the e-commerce platform.
'A combination of the associated losses, the capex requirements and tightening credit has led to a liquidity crunch.'
It seems likely that the current stock will be sold off, then replaced with lower-quality similar-looking items which make more profit and are misleadingly priced to show big discounts, while staff are put on zero-hours contracts, fined for arriving late but not rewarded for working late, made to wait unpaid for security checks before they can leave work and so on. Maybe mercalia doesn't want to support a business where "there’s no happy environment – it’s all miserable, they just want you work faster and faster."
So are Sports Direct not subject to UK employment law ?
Irrelevant - employment Law is a joke and in any case far too few LA and Govt officials to enforce what pathetic protection there is. Still too much for Rees-Mogg and his cronies. You ain't seen nothing yet....
Wonder how many evans staff will end up on zero hours contracts and will ashley manage to persuade trek specialized and cannondale to discount the brands, watch this space it could get very interesting. How the hell did ashley manage to purchase the company for only 8 million it just simply beggars belief!
I am not happy with them right now. I ordered something on the 4th and it won't be sent til 12th. The new owner took over on the 6th and orders were put on hold while account info was updated. Not that they informed any of their customers who were waiting.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
I regret the decline of High Street shopping, but if I were investing money in Evans, and primarily concerned about that and not the employees, I would close as many shops as I could as soon as leases allowed, and focus on the online trade. They are quite strong there.
foxychick wrote:Wonder how many evans staff will end up on zero hours contracts and will ashley manage to persuade trek specialized and cannondale to discount the brands, watch this space it could get very interesting. How the hell did ashley manage to purchase the company for only 8 million it just simply beggars belief!
I suspect Evans has an over confident business plan and the number of outlets has only come about as a result of outside investors. Ashley has probably paid the value of the business less what the creditors are due.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
foxychick wrote:Wonder how many evans staff will end up on zero hours contracts and will ashley manage to persuade trek specialized and cannondale to discount the brands, watch this space it could get very interesting. How the hell did ashley manage to purchase the company for only 8 million it just simply beggars belief!
I suspect Evans has an over confident business plan and the number of outlets has only come about as a result of outside investors. Ashley has probably paid the value of the business less what the creditors are due.
There were apparently three bidders, so whatever deal Ashley was offering must have been better than the other two. The administrators have an obligation to maximise the assets to the benefit of the creditors. I don't think they have any other obligations, to the employees or the future prospects of the business.
peetee wrote:I am not happy with them right now. I ordered something on the 4th and it won't be sent til 12th. The new owner took over on the 6th and orders were put on hold while account info was updated. Not that they informed any of their customers who were waiting.
If a buyer hadn't come forward you might have been even less happy.
peetee wrote:I am not happy with them right now. I ordered something on the 4th and it won't be sent til 12th. The new owner took over on the 6th and orders were put on hold while account info was updated. Not that they informed any of their customers who were waiting.
If a buyer hadn't come forward you might have been even less happy.
I am not annoyed that it is taking so long. More that there was no explanation or apology by email or website notification. I certainly wasn't miffed enough to have a go at their staff when I phoned. I am well aware that my issue is minor in comparison to their uncertainty over their job prospects.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
Will it be like other SD "brands" and pricing claims? Trek.....usual price £4,000, now £1000..... Or too risky to reveal current laughable mark ups within the trade?
