The online retailer has so far mainly sold spare parts and accessories, but sales of complete wheels increased by 38 percent to almost 34 million euros last year.
(Photo: Bike24)
Munich The mail order company Bike24 is feeling the effects of the difficult situation in the bicycle industry. In the past year, the Dresden-based company was able to increase sales primarily thanks to an expansion of business in Spain, Italy and France. But the bottom line was a loss.
“The trend towards cycling is unbroken,” said founder and company boss Andrés Martin-Birner on Thursday when the balance sheet was presented. However, given the difficult macroeconomic environment, customers have become more cautious. Bike24 also had to clean up the full warehouse with discount campaigns in the past few months.
Although the bicycle industry felt high demand during the corona pandemic, there was a lack of components due to production losses in Asia. As a result, retailers and manufacturers ordered in excess – and are now sitting on high stocks.
Prices in the bicycle industry are under pressure
The result is sometimes high discounts. Manufacturers like Rose, Canyon and Specialized have also lowered the prices. Bike24 used campaign days like “Black Friday” to reduce stocks.
Bike24’s sales increased last year by 4.5 percent to 262 million euros thanks to continued international expansion. This means that the upper end of the forecast, which was revised downwards over the course of the year, was reached. Sales more than doubled in Spain, Italy and France.
The adjusted operating result (Ebitda) fell from almost 31 to around 10 million euros. This corresponded to a margin of 3.7 percent. In the current year it should be zero to 3.5 percent. The net loss in 2023 was almost seven million euros after a profit of two million euros the year before.
The boss of Bike24 promises a return to double-digit growth rates for 2024.
(Photo: Bike24/LinkedIn)
In the industry as a whole, revenues in Germany increased by twelve percent to 7.36 billion euros last year, mainly due to the higher demand for e-bikes and higher-quality bikes, according to the Bicycle Industry Association (ZIV). Including accessories and service, the industry now has a turnover of more than ten billion euros.
“2023 will still be a difficult year,” said Burkhard Stork, Managing Director of the Bicycle Industry Association (ZIV), the Handelsblatt. However, the industry will not crash, but will continue to grow from the current plateau. Martin-Birner also expects the long-term upward trend to be stable. This year he expects zero to ten percent growth for Bike24, next year double-digit growth again.
The stock market has been mostly downhill so far
Martin-Birner founded the online retailer 20 years ago together with Lars Witt. Today, the company sees itself as “one of the leading e-commerce platforms in continental Europe” for cyclists with a focus on the premium segment. The online shop has so far mainly sold spare parts and accessories, but sales of complete wheels increased by 38 percent to almost 34 million euros last year.
So far, Bike24 has not really been able to convince the capital markets of its business model. The company started on the stock exchange in 2021 with a price of 15 euros. This corresponded to a valuation of around 660 million euros.
The share rose to more than 25 euros during the bicycle boom in the corona pandemic. Since then, however, things have mostly gone downhill. On Thursday morning, the papers were down more than three percent at just over three euros.
More: Bicycle manufacturer Canyon wants to achieve sales of more than one billion euros by 2025