"Zyro has announced the acquisition of Fisher Outdoor Leisure, merging the two businesses together to create Zyro-Fisher; a new distributor of Parts, Accessories and Clothing to the UK and Irish cycling markets."
Don't know what this will mean for consumers if anything at all but it is a lot of major brands all coming from 1 place now.
Surprised at that. Always thought Zyro were a smaller outfit than Fisher.
That's got to be a massive leverage deal?! No way are Zyro big enough to take Fisher surely? I know they've got private equity firm on board but Fisher had to be looking to sell there surely.
This made me laugh:
“Our industry is clearly entering a consolidation phase and I am delighted with the combination of these two strong and complementary companies to create a scale player able to offer future-proof service and solutions to its partners.”
as did this
“This is an exciting development for the combined business, its brand partners and its customers, creating a company with a truly differentiated proposition in terms of scale, reach and value-added services. Together, the board and management team bring an unrivalled level of expertise, which will help to deliver a clear growth strategy in an evolving sector.”
Hope everyone gets to keep their jobs while the MBAs do "business".
Wooo one of the most incompetent companies buys one that at least tries.
Last time couple of times ive newsing with mates in their shops they reckoned zyro were going to go belly up as everything was always out of stock etc...... Guess they were wrong.
It'll make life easier for Wiggle megacorp to buy all the other distributors over the next few years if they all merge themselves in the meantime 😉
Mates wife is works for zyro so either woohoo, more cheap stuff or boohoo for her job! 😥 😯 😀
My old school friend was recently ousted as boss of fisher (Richard Allmark) .....I think it was hostile. Perhaps they had this deal in mind?
Hope everyone gets to keep their jobs
They're apparently consolidating at the Zyro site, so not too sure about that.
It worries me that there's so much venture capital being poured into the bike industry. Venture Capitalists want their money back and a lot more, and sharpish. I was happier when money made in the bike industry stayed in the bike industry.
Wonder if that's why zyro moved premises a while back. Put a lot of miles on my friends wife's commute.
bencooper - Member
It worries me that there's so much venture capital being poured into the bike industry. Venture Capitalists want their money back and a lot more, and sharpish. I was happier when money made in the bike industry stayed in the bike industry.
It does all sound like it's just another business to be bought, streamlined and sold on again for a fat profit. There's not much about customer service in those quotes (though to be fair the MD/CEO's quote was more focused on that side of things).
I feel sorry for the small shops that have to deal with these mega corps. . . . .
Fishers once took £13,000 off my Amex card by mistake 😀
I feel sorry for the small shops that have to deal with these mega corps. . .
On the other hand though it does give the distributor far greater power to refuse to sell at massive discounts to the likes of crc should they wish to [make more profit on the same volume of sales]. That can be a good thing for smaller retailers by producing some parity in buying prices, as opposed to the current state of affairs where crc often retail cheaper than small shops can purchase from a distributor.
It'll never happen though.
bencooper +1
On the other hand though it does give the distributor far greater power to refuse to sell at massive discounts to the likes of crc should they wish to [make more profit on the same volume of sales].
They dont do that though do they? I understood CRC et.al got their stuff cheap stuff direct from manufacturers. Ideally this 'mega-corp' would be able to hold back contracts they do have with sellers who get other stock through discount channels. But pretty sure that sort of thing would be against anti-competition laws?
On the other hand though it does give the distributor far greater power to refuse to sell at massive discounts to the likes of crc should they wish to [make more profit on the same volume of sales]. That can be a good thing for smaller retailers by producing some parity in buying prices, as opposed to the current state of affairs where crc often retail cheaper than small shops can purchase from a distributor.
Yes, I suppose...
It'll never happen though.
That's more like it.
I can see the market consolidating such that independent distributors are no longer sustainable - mega-retailers like Wiggle/CRC are big enough to buy direct from the OEMs and take on lines directly so will likely sell to independent shops in due course.
They dont do that though do they? I understood CRC et.al got their stuff cheap stuff direct from manufacturers.
Yes and no. If memory serves CRC go to a variety of legit and grey distributors in both the UK and outside. Their purchasing power and warehouse holding facilities meant they could often negotiate a very low purchasing tier if they bought a lot of stock. This is both good and bad for the consumer - good because CRC could sell at a substantial discount benefitting the consumer, bad because the customer's LBS probably couldn't get the product because CRC had already bought them all, and even if they could they probably couldn't get anywhere near a price match.
CRC bought their own distributor (Hotlines) and then sold stuff at a lower price than LBSs were getting them for wholesale. Ouch.
CRC bought their own distributor (Hotlines) and then sold stuff at a lower price than LBSs were getting them for wholesale. Ouch.
Ribble have been doing that for years. When I was a mechanic (20 years ago) they were importing Campag and selling it to customers at what we could buy it trade.
Firstly I’d like to state that most of these comments posted on here are of a negative nature and people are not seeing the bigger picture typical of today’s whining population some company fails everyone talks about it but when one is successful everyone wants to pull them down for nothing more than doing well bit sad really. Two established company’s merging can only be a good thing for the cycling industry and if members’ had bothered to look into what they were stating they would of seen for themselves. so for the record NJEE20 your comments regarding the size of zyro couldn’t be more wrong fisher outdoors turnover for 2015 was 32 million compared to Zyro’s 34 million for the same period as well as Zyro’s facility’s being far larger than fishers. SPEEDER again as before, I’m sure zyro are more than capable of taking the extra otherwise why would they have bothered to buy out let alone find investment and also how can you in one breath say it’s not big enough and the next state that it’s a mega corporation makes no sense, plus zyro from what I know to be fact is far from a mega corporation hell bent on capitalism more of a passionate cycling company that gives back to the industry and community probably more than any other. TRAIL RAT as for calling them incompetent I think casting falsehoods such as those purely based on the fact the item you require is out of stock is for one unfair and unjust being as zyro are a retail supplier and have no stores so I don’t know how you visited one of their stores when in fact they have none. Also id direct your attention to the latter part of your statement with English skills such as those, you my friend are in no place to call any one incompetent. In closing you all need to see this as a good thing for the future of the cycling industry I have no doubt in my mind that with a company like zyro heading this venture the only way is up and I for one look forward to see what comes from this. Rant over!.
Well that told you lot!
Hello Mr Zyro
Also id direct your attention to the latter part of your statement with English skills such as those
Weeeeelll....
do you have a valid point to make
Sorry mtbking81, I stopped trying with your post when I read the same line three times in a row.
Could you please summarise?
I don't like zyro just because of ^^^ that guy and his mighty paragraph.
merely stating facts
New account created today, only posted on this thread. Seems legit.
The only potential facts you posted were the turnovers, which seem to support other posters saying there's some big financing going on.
The official press releases are typical meaningless corporate flannel.
"You all need to see this as a good thing..."
No, we don't. We can form our own opinions, and even express them in a forum.
That's got to be a massive leverage deal?! No way are Zyro big enough to take Fisher surely?
It happens. Where I work, we've just been bought out by a company half the size of us.
Also id direct your attention to the latter part of your statement with English skills such as those
Help me out, is that irony or [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law ]Muphry's Law[/url]?
New account created today, only posted on this thread. Seems legit.
More than welcome to share his opinion too of course, though I'd have preferred him to declare any vested interest. (Not that it was particularly difficult for us to work out, mind).
mtbking81 - Member
do you have a valid point to make
I think he meant if you want to criticise someone's English skills, perhaps you should study punctuation first.
Paragraphs help comprehension... 🙂
And if you are connected with either company, perhaps it would be worth a mention.
Other than that, thanks for the info. 'Twas interesting.
And he didn't even comprehend Trail-rat was talking about retailers having trouble getting stuff from Zyro.
I'm betting on some low-level minion getting a huff on because someone dared criticise his employer.
Steady day in PR department? Or is this the new job title of social media engineering?
VCs saddle Zyro with a big chunk of debt and high interest rates to pay for the merger - how's that good for the industry?
Not even remotely accurate I'm merely stating that people on these forums come up with opinions based Purley on fiction without even basic investigations into what they are saying and why is it that if someone is pulling another person or company in this case down that's OK voice an opinion that you think based on fact not rumours or heresay that you think it's a good thing you all crawl out from your rocks to argue how I'm wrong and the only thing you have been correct about is my punctuation go figure in my defence have you tried typing a statement that long on a phone yes I'm a new user but does that make my point any less valid than someone who's been a member years no this is a democratic nation that once over was proud of its businesses all of you that have left negative comments so far as I can see have not argued to the contrary of anything I've said instead you try to raise a reaction that puts me in the light of a troll or some sort of forum anarchist but the fact of the matter is I'm right and you know it so stop posting stupid comments trying to belittle me because frankly it just makes you look ridiculous
No need to mate.
Seriously, I'd give up now before you cause more embarrassment.
[img] 
[/img]
I do hope you aren't employed by either Zyro or Fisher, as I think they may take a rather dim view of you posting on their behalf. 😯
mtbking - are you a fan of James Joyce, by any chance ?
😯
I work as a bike mechanic up in Scotland nowhere near St Albans or darlington so working for fishers or zyro would be quite difficult
In closing you all need to see this as a good thing for the future of the cycling industry
Tell that to the people being made redundant...
How do you even know they are loosing their jobs
the only thing you have been correct about is my punctuation
To be fair, you started that.
I work as a bike mechanic up in Scotland nowhere near St Albans or darlington so working for fishers or zyro would be quite difficult
Funny, that's not what it says on your Facebook page.
How do you even know they are loosing their jobs
That's what happens when companies merge, they reduce duplicated positions. Well, unless they're really stupid. Why would you have two people doing the same job?
Funny, that's not what it says on your Facebook page.
[img] 
[/img]
😆
OK cougar I'll go with that to an extent but it's not about spelling, grammar or punctuation is it
I would suspect Hatter has a better idea of what's going on than most posting on this thread.
Factoid....Zyro have always been a useless shower of shit.
OK cougar I'll go with that to an extent but it's not about spelling, grammar or punctuation is it
No, it really isn't.
But, I'm reasonably sure that was the least important of the two points I was making. We take a dim view of folk misrepresenting themselves (it's called astroturfing), so signing up to a forum solely to vehemently (and really, aggressively) defend a company you claim to have no affiliations with would've been immediately suspicious to the rest of the forum even if you hadn't been daft enough to sign up with an email address which is your real name.
The fact that you appear to be typing with your forehead whilst criticising others' English is an irrelevance in the grand scheme of things, if anything it's just mildly amusing.
Venture capitalist fatcat: "But how do we make this post look more 'grass roots'"
PR leech: "Easy! We'll remove all of the punctuation 🙂 "
To be fair to Zyro, I don't think our new friend is sufficiently high-up enough in the food chain to be making official statements or be involved with PR. Which is why I've not outed him.
You can thank me later, sunbeam.
Interesting. Do we know each other ? Thats my area too. Give us a clue - which region of scotland ?
My opinions are not fiction. They are infact based on 10 years of dealing with said companies- i am how ever now ex bike trade as times move on and families mature.
I do sincerely hope some of fishers customer service attitude rubs off on zyro. It can only improve matters. IM not out to put them down or nae say im just telling it like i see it. Im not known for sugar coating it. They did how ever have friendly apologetic front line sales staff on the phones 🙂
One thing I did wonder though is if the misquoting was deliberate. Your first post doesnt correlate with any of the previous postings. Some might say your version of my opinions contained within your post were fiction
Well that escilated some what...
[quote=Rusty Mac ]Well that [s]escilated[/s] escalated some what...
Mr Zyro will have another hissy fit at your spolling 😉
Oops nauty me, I'll go and sit in the corner and think about what I have done.
Mergers like this can often have a very negative impact on a market - it consolidates market power and comes closer to an oligopoly, duopoly or worse, monopoly - reducing consumer choice, increasing profits but reducing investment at the same time (no need to invest to grow market share or improve your service if you have so much market power).
I know nothing about the bike industry but seeing more venture capital in cycling concerns me somewhat - VC as mentioned above is concerned with making a profit, not long term sustainability or growth... look at the recent stories coming out about Boots for instance.
And on a side note, I do love the way the internet improves transparency 🙂
It does make me wonder how much less trolling and nonsense there would be on STW if all profiles were made public.
It doesn't really matter I don't think. Were clevar.
Well I must apologize Mr Zyro I stand corrected.
I still fail to see how
These - [url= http://www.zyro.co.uk/brands ]Zyro brands[/url]
turn over more than
These - [url= http://www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk/brands/ ]Fisher Outdoor brands[/url]
but I guess the numbers don't lie.
Best of luck with the merger, just don't expect any of your customers or non share optioned employees to welcome ... errr . . . this:-
[i]“This is an exciting development for the combined business, its brand partners and its customers, creating a company with a truly differentiated proposition in terms of scale, reach and value-added services. Together, the board and management team bring an unrivalled level of expertise, which will help to deliver a clear growth strategy in an evolving sector.”[/i]
Turn over means jack shit.
Thats a number thats quoted when .......
How ever an old friend in the know of these things but is not involved in either co assures me there is good reason outwith.
I'm right and you know it so stop posting stupid comments trying to belittle me because frankly it just makes you look ridiculous
Anyone else imagining a teenager stamping their feet there? 😆
Just thought I'd look things up and it turns out I was very wrong Zyro turn over a bit more (recently) and make more profit as well as conserve more cash than Fishers. The accounts don't lie. (Mostly)
[url= https://companycheck.co.uk/company/03060232/ZYRO-LIMITED/financial-accounts ]Zyro[/url] vs [url= https://companycheck.co.uk/company/00374404/FISHER-OUTDOOR-LEISURE-LIMITED/financial-accounts ]Fisher[/url]
Headlines for 5 Years are:-
Turnover
Zyro £154,697,955
Fisher £169,781,000
Gross Profit
Zyro £48,312,887
Fisher £44,997,000
Worth (current)
Zyro £10,766,830
Fisher £4,470,000
I'm sure an accountant could share some light on how Fishers made so little from a similar set of figures but I guess they've had an MBO & stuff going on over the last few years so it could just be a flux thing and the more MTB bias of Fishers being less profitable.
Rorschach - Member
Factoid....Zyro have always been a useless shower of shit.
Chris is there anyone you actually like? 😀
This is prob an easy question but what do the 'worth' figures mean?
Ah, there's been an edit, makes sense now 🙂
I'm sure an accountant could share some light on how Fishers made so little
Well, judging from trail_rat's comments it may be more of a case of Zyro squeezing more profit by offering there vendors inferior service...
Just think how many free Reverbs they give out Speeder
Now thats information id use if i was defending my position. Seems to be that zyro are making money some how. Fairplay
A mate of mine worked at Zyro. Terrible company to work for by all accounts...
Factoid....Zyro have always been a useless shower of shit.
My LBS concurs and will not stock any of their brands. Good luck those of you with SRAM kit, it looks like it could be harder to get in the future than Campag spares!
V10....nope 👿 .You maybe a likkle bit.But only because you are the opposition.
There have been rumours of Zyro padding their portfolio to look sexy for a venture capital leveraged buyout for ages.
i was pondering this on the way to work.
I guess their books do look so good due to the building of inhouse brands with a good reputation - that cuts out the middlemen means that turn over becomes profit much more freely
hampering bike shops up and down the country by operating a just in time system it would seem.
Cougar - Moderator
The fact that you appear to be typing with your forehead whilst criticising others' English is an irrelevance in the grand scheme of things, if anything it's just mildly amusing.
This Sir is THE funniest comment I have ever read on this forum.
Thanks for that 😆
I'm sure an accountant could share some light on how Fishers made so little from a similar set of figures
Because the margins on an Altura commuter jacket are probably much better than that a pair of Pikes.
Odd how our new lord and saviour has vanished after he got busted by Cougar.
A mate of mine worked at Zyro. Terrible company to work for by all accounts...
Two friends recently moved from Zyro to Fisher.
You can run but you can't hide... 😆
You've got to wonder how much SRAM stuff Fishers were actually selling - and at what margin - when even your retailers can get it cheaper from CRC or Germany.