Brompton Bicycle has warned of one other tough 12 months forward after its revenue earlier than tax slumped to only £4,602 within the 12 months to the top of March — a staggering fall from the £10.7 million it made the earlier 12 months.
The corporate now finds itself recording a complete revenue smaller than the retail worth of its premium T Line Discover 12 Velocity foldable, listed at £4,749 on its web site.
Annual gross sales additionally took a success, slipping by 5.3 per cent to £122.6 million. Brompton offered 84,899 bikes in 2024, down from 91,875 the 12 months earlier than, a decline it attributed to ongoing world financial uncertainty, inflated inventories throughout the biking trade, and better staffing and advertising outlays.
Regardless of the powerful situations, Brompton emphasised that exports accounted for 80 per cent of its turnover, up from 74 per cent in 2023. It additionally reported a big swing in the direction of its higher-margin T Line and P Line fashions, which helped offset a few of the misplaced income from fewer complete gross sales.
In early 2024, Brompton raised £19 million from BGF, securing about 8 per cent of the corporate for the fund and valuing the enterprise at £200 million, together with the brand new funding. The additional capital was supposed to help progress and the deliberate relocation from its present Greenford facility in west London to a brand new, elevated manufacturing unit in Kent, initially slated to open in 2027. Planning setbacks have delayed these ambitions, though the corporate says the brand new web site will assist regenerate native wetlands and encourage extra biking and strolling in Ashford.
Brompton reached a milestone final November by producing its one-millionth bike. Based by Andrew Ritchie in 1975 whereas overlooking London’s Brompton Oratory, the agency joins different British bicycle manufacturers grappling with more durable buying and selling situations after the pandemic growth subsided, with notable collapses within the sector together with Mercian and Orange Mountain Bikes.
