Frasers continues portfolio expansion, reportedly rescues cycling retailer Wiggle

Mike Ashley’s retail empire Frasers Group has reportedly snapped up Wiggle in a deal that rescued the cycling and sports equipment brand from the grasp of administration.

The acquisition is understood to have cost the group just under 10 million pounds, according to The Sunday Times, which initially reported the news.

As part of the takeover, it is believed that all 447 jobs under the company are to be lost as a result, the media outlet added.

It comes months after Wiggle had fallen into administration last October, after sales and demand dropped following the end of the pandemic lockdown, as reported by its administrators.

Frasers, meanwhile, has been on a mission to expand and diversify its portfolio in recent years, with the cycling industry already being an area it has a proven interest in, having now operated Evans Cycle since 2018 and later acquiring ProBikeKit in 2023.

Another area in which the retail group, which largely owns a slew of fashion brands, has dipped its toes into is that of electrics, with it last year swooping in to buy stakes in electrical giants Currys and AO.

Through the move, Frasers said that it saw a potential to build on collaborations between the electronics retailers and Studio Retail, an online marketplace it had previously rescued from administration in 2022.