Chris Boardman sells cycle business to Halfords for £20m

Tour de France racing cyclist Chris Boardman and his business partners have received a pay day of around £20m from Halfords for the sale of the bicycle brand he created.

Mr Boardman, who shot to fame winning a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics and stages in the Tour de France, will remain with the performance bike brand that he founded as its chairman and design director.

Halfords, the bicycle and car parts retailer, already stocks Boardman bicycles. It is acquiring Boardman Bikes Ltd and Boardman International Ltd.

Mr Boardman, who was known as an innovator in cycling and worked with companies such as Lotus, helped to transform Halfords into a serious bicycle retailer.

“We look forward to building on the success we have had to date with independent retailers, in international markets and with Halfords,” said Mr Boardman on completion of the deal.

This step will take the brand to the next level and their backing will allow us to further develop our research & development and extend our award-winning cycling ranges.”

Last month, Halfords posted a 6.5pc increase in annual like-for-like sales, driven by cycling sales, with pre-tax profits increasing 2.3pc to £72.6m. The retailer has recently drawn criticism after it sent letters to its suppliers asking them to pay up to 10pc of their annual sales with Halfords to help fund the company’s £100m store modernisation programme.

Owning the Boardman brand outright will help the company strengthen its presence in the high end of the bicycle retail market, which has seen growing demand for quality racing bikes that sell for over £1,000 each.

“Our investment in Boardman Bikes, which have been ridden by multiple Olympic and world champions, demonstrates our growing position as a specialist cycling retailer,” said Matt Davies, chief executive of Halfords.

“We have worked with Chris and his team since 2007; they have created one of the most important, fastest-growing and successful brands in UK cycling. We look forward to a continuation of the growth that both Boardman and Halfords have enjoyed with such a strong brand.”

Cycling has ballooned as a recreation activity in the UK since Mr Boardman achieved the country’s first gold medal success in decades, helping to lift the sports profile.

After his professional career, Mr Boardman established the brand with the help of the Greek engineer Dimitris Katsanis, an expert in advanced composite materials such as carbon fibre which feature heavily in the Boardman range.

Since the recent Olympic success of the British team and the yellow jersey winning success of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome at the Tour de France, cycle retail has taken off in the UK. This momentum is expected to revive a further boost this July when the three-week-long French stage race will start in Yorkshire before heading back across the English Channel.

According to a recent study by the London School of Economics (LSE), cycling contributes about £2.9bn to the economy. According to the LSE study, 3.7m bicycles were sold in 2010, marking a 28pc increase in sales. Of the total number of bicycles sold, £51m worth were made in the UK.

The growth in the industry has seen a number of former professionals launch their own brands. Olympic champion Chris Hoy has marketed his own brand since his retirement from the sport.