A British bicycle entrepreneur says Brexit has buckled his business and left him with a £100,000 hole in revenues, accusing the government of failing to do enough to mitigate its impact on British small exporters.

Cycloc, which has made a name for its distinctive indoor bicycle storage and accessories and includes Stella McCartney, Jonathan Ross and cycling star Mark Cavendish among its customers, says the EU represented 50% of its business before Brexit left it nursing a 25% decline in overall sales.

“It is very disappointing. I am a naturally optimistic person, but in a sense it is very difficult to be positive,” said the company’s founder and designer, Andrew Lang, in his studio in east London...

“One of the things that is quite disappointing about this whole process is that from the outset, we made an active decision to manufacture in the UK. We’ve remained faithful to that and it feels as though the UK government hasn’t necessarily helped us.”

Cycloc’s products have been a British small business success story with its striking wall hangers popular with owners of expensive wheels who want to store them safely inside. They are used by some of the world’s leading cycle brands including Pinarello, whose bikes can sell for as much as £15,000.

A product designer by profession, Lang launched the injection-moulded products in 2006. They quickly found favour among cycling enthusiasts, professionals and distributors, winning a prestigious Eurobike award in 2009, the Oscars of the cycle sector.

Distributors across the EU lapped up the wall-mounted blocks, which cost from £43 and hang bikes in “any orientation or space”, stopping them cluttering up hallways across the continent.

By the time Brexit came along, business was flying with 10,000 units sold in the EU each year and annual turnover hitting £450,000.

But once new rules came into force in January 2021 after the end of the transition period, business started to slow, especially after Amazon stopped fulfilling orders for individual EU customers buying from Britain.

There was also a drop in confidence in British products, says Cycloc’s head of operations, Clare Lowe, with some “EU distributors stopping placing orders, citing cost of shipping and customs clearance as prohibitive”.

The company made every effort to beat what Lang calls “Kafkaesque” Brexit red tape by opening up a warehouse in the Netherlands at the end of 2021 to ensure costly paperwork would only have to be done per truckload crossing from Dover rather than per individual unit.

The aim was to fulfil direct-to-EU consumer business from its website and Amazon and smaller business sales to bike shops but it still cost £10,000 extra in overheads.

As 2022 progressed, it became apparent that EU consumer sales were “not going to recover to their pre-Brexit levels” and the warehouse would be operating at a loss.

“To say the Brexit process was gritty is an understatement,” said Lowe. “Within 12 months of having got it up and running, we just had to take this decision to close it because it wasn’t covering its costs.”

Cycloc’s products are still being sold direct to customers in the EU via an “import one-stop shop” in Ireland, an automated service to cover complex VAT compliance procedures.

Its experience is not unique and highlights the continuing damage Brexit is causing small exporters who cannot easily absorb the new administrative burden as easily as big businesses.

Cycloc’s experience mirrors that of the Cheshire Cheese Company, which made headlines all over the world in 2021, when it declared Brexit had cost it £250,000 in lost revenue leading a government minister to suggest it look to the global market to plug the Brexit hole. Last November, its owner Simon Spurrell, said those losses had ballooned to £600,000 and he had sold the firm to a larger rival to improve his access to the single market.

Lang also tells of the wider impact Brexit has had, diverting the company’s energies from growing its product range. “We have about half a dozen products in the pipeline that are in a very advanced stage but we’ve not been able to commit the capital to bring those to the market yet because of the other Brexit costs and problems we’ve been confronted with,” he said.

Reflecting on the difficult decision to close the warehouse operation, Lang said he could not understand why the government did not support small-scale British manufacturers like him more.

The business is now trying to “pivot pretty quickly” to new markets in the US, Asia, Australia and South Africa, said Patron McCleary, head of marketing, but the “learning” to get into those markets is also a drain on resources.

“In places like China or Hong Kong I’m having to learn a lot about the culture, about buying habits, and how British products are viewed. It would have been easier in Europe, but because of how bad the Brexit actually was, we’ve actually had to be quite reactive rather than being proactive,” he said.

The government did not comment on Cycloc’s experience. A spokesperson said the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) it signed in December 2020 was “the world’s largest zero-tariff and zero-quota deal” and it had established the Export Support Services “so businesses can make the most of the TCA”.

They added that the UK was further investing to make exports easier and recent data showed trade to the EU was up 0.5% on the third quarter of 2019.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/23/brexit-has-lost-us-25-of-sales-british-bike-storage-firm-buckles-under-red-tape?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

You reported on this story seven days ago. There’s nothing new here for
your one-string fiddle to play.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> A British bicycle entrepreneur says Brexit has buckled his business and
> left him with a £100,000 hole in revenues, accusing the government of
> failing to do enough to mitigate its impact on British small exporters.

> https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/23/brexit-has-lost-us-25-of-sales-british-bike-storage-firm-buckles-under-red-tape?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
>

--
Spike

They're even turning on themselves now!

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/31/brexit-lies-tory-billionaire-guy-hands-uk-eu-economy

Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:
> You reported on this story seven days ago. There’s nothing new here for
> your one-string fiddle to play.
>
> swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> A British bicycle entrepreneur says Brexit has buckled his business and
>> left him with a £100,000 hole in revenues, accusing the government of
>> failing to do enough to mitigate its impact on British small exporters.
>
>> https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/23/brexit-has-lost-us-25-of-sales-british-bike-storage-firm-buckles-under-red-tape?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
>>
>
>
>

Of course, the real story here is that the company has simply failed to
adapt.

Brian <noinv@lid.org> wrote:
> Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:

>> You reported on this story seven days ago. There’s nothing new here for
>> your one-string fiddle to play.

>> swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

>>> A British bicycle entrepreneur says Brexit has buckled his business and
>>> left him with a £100,000 hole in revenues, accusing the government of
>>> failing to do enough to mitigate its impact on British small exporters.

>>> https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/23/brexit-has-lost-us-25-of-sales-british-bike-storage-firm-buckles-under-red-tape?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

> Of course, the real story here is that the company has simply failed to adapt.

Absolutely.

If a German exporter of bicycles can find a straightforward way to deal
with the UK, AND sell their products in the UK at permanently lower prices,
it puts the whingers (aka Remainers) to shame.

Cyclists must have the memory retention of a goldfish; the following was
reported in road.cc not long ago.

Canyon reduces UK bike prices, citing better exchange rates, shipping costs
and customs charges

The German brand has made permanent reductions to numerous models such as
the Aeroad, Grail and Ultimate, telling road.cc it has "...been able to
reduce the cost of importing bikes to the UK" and pass on the savings

by JACK SEXTY
MON, JAN 23, 2023 18:11

Bucking the current inflation-fuelled trend which has seen the prices of
just about everything go up over the past year, Canyon has permanently
reduced the prices of most of its bikes in recent weeks, some of them by
significant amounts. With the news popping up on numerous Canyon-themed
forums on social media and first reported by BikeRadar (link is external),
examples include the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX 7 eTap, down to £4,799 from
£4,949, and the Canyon Grail CF SLX 8 Di2, down to £5,099 from £5,249.

Commenting on the reductions, Canyon's Global Communications Manager Ben
Hillsdon told road.cc: "...we’re always looking at how and when we can
offer better value for customers around the world. On this occasion we’ve
been able to reduce the price of bikes across the board for UK customers.

"This is due to a combination of things – better exchange rates, shipping
costs, customs charges – all contributing to mean we can drop the prices of
our bikes in the UK.

These aren’t sale prices by the way, so yes, we can expect these prices to
be stable for quite some time."

You may remember that we reported the opposite scenario over two years ago
now, when Canyon was one of three bike brands we'd noticed had raised their
prices, some by as much as 12% in a year. At the time, reasons such as
increased costs with supply chains and logistics, currency fluctuations and
the general extra costs associated with the pandemic were given, all of
which have now understandably eased somewhat.

To provide an example of how significant Canyon's savings could be due to
this more recent combination of better exchange rates, shipping costs and
customs charges, as the brand puts it, a 2023 Canyon Aeroad CF SL 8 Disc is
now priced at £3,849 on the Canyon UK website (link is external), which is
£100 less than the 2021 model after that price increase and just £50 more
than the 2020 model, even after a year of rapid inflation.

As far as we know, the reductions only apply to the UK and are not being
applied in other territories... so what's the elephant in the room?

Well, we're pretty sure these UK-only reductions are down to the ironing
out of some issues related to one very divisive thing, which is Brexit of
course. When asked to clarify which part of the journey from manufacturing
in Asia and onto the UK that Canyon has saved on, Hillsdon confirmed that
the brand has "...been able to reduce the cost of importing bikes to the UK
and we’re able to pass those savings on."

While Brexit-related red tape - such as the 14% duty applied to bikes
arriving in the UK from the EU - was a step too far for Rose Bikes (and
even Canyon for a brief period) who promptly ceased shipment of all bikes
to the UK in late 2020, there are ways retailers have been lessening the
impact of this red tape.

As detailed on the Brexit legal guide website (link is external), EU-based
retailers may be able to store goods that are destined for the UK in bonded
warehouses: "Customs warehousing is a procedure by which non-EU goods may
be stored in EU territory without being subject to import duties. Duty
becomes payable when the goods are released into free circulation", the
article says.

While Canyon wouldn't confirm exactly how it had cut its costs of importing
to the UK, the brand sells a lot of bikes to UK customers, so this
workaround could make sense. Vice-versa, retail giants such as Gymshark and
Asos have bypassed Brexit-related import duties when selling to European
customers by setting up distribution centres in the EU.

While we predicted over-supply as the end stage of the pandemic's impact on
the bike industry in our feature and video on the rising cost of cycling,
Hillsdon told us: "In terms of supply, customers seem to be loving Canyon
bikes more than ever – we’re showing over 20% growth since 2016 – but
referring to this Financial Times Article (link is external) from
end-November 2022, you’ll see our CEO talking about supply getting better
although one year more to get back to normal. So we’re not immune from the
market situation, but, thanks to our direct-to-consumer model, we’re still
able to offer customers a wide range of bikes, allowing Canyon to continue
in its very positive trend."

Could bike prices drop even more? While there's never a bad time to buy a
bike, it seems like the prices of most Canyon bikes in the UK will be lower
than those 2022 peaks for some time yet...

<https://road.cc/content/tech-news/canyon-reduces-uk-bike-prices-298821>

--
Spike

The whole of the UK is in the hole to the sum of GPB 100bn every year.
Well done, Brextards.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-31/brexit-is-costing-the-uk-100-billion-a-year-in-lost-output?fbclid=IwAR3-hTzRU3YlUcYpN3OWgA2LBJRr0BjBaTWVWizNURAz1-QQkQHJI7mzawA

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> The whole of the UK is in the hole to the sum of GPB 100bn every year.

> Well done, Brextards.

> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-31/brexit-is-costing-the-uk-100-billion-a-year-in-lost-output?fbclid=IwAR3-hTzRU3YlUcYpN3OWgA2LBJRr0BjBaTWVWizNURAz1-QQkQHJI7mzawA

Up yours, Remainers! Note how many Remainers lies failed to turn up. Suck
on this:

The City of London has retained its crown as Europe's dominant financial
centre as fears of a Brexit-induced exodus failed to materialise.

London came second only to New York in the latest global financial centres
index, which is published by think tank Z/Yen Group and ranks the world’s
top 126 finance hubs.

It takes into account areas such as political stability, labour market
flexibility, quality of life, infrastructure and innovation.

The City comfortably beat rival European centres including Paris, Frankfurt
and Amsterdam, which respectively came 11th, 16th and 19th.

It comes despite repeated warnings from chief executives and politicians
that Brexit would damage the Square Mile's reputation.

Still, the report highlights how the Square Mile has successfully steered
its way through the pandemic and Britain's withdrawal from the EU, relative
to other financial centres.

A report from EY earlier this year found that a majority of global finance
firms plan to establish or extend their operations in the UK this year,
with investor confidence in Britain’s financial services sector at an
all-time high.

A mass exodus of finance jobs out of London failed to materialise
post-Brexit, despite warnings about hundreds of thousands of jobs migrating
to the Continent.

--
Spike

Rees Mogg: "Brexit will reduce food prices". In reality:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn4xdRUXoAI0SV1?format=jpg&name=medium

ANOTHER LIE.

swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Rees Mogg: "Brexit will reduce food prices". In reality:

> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn4xdRUXoAI0SV1?format=jpg&name=medium

> ANOTHER LIE.

You mean he foresaw Covid and the Ukraine war and lied about their effects?

With that ability he could have won the lottery a few times, it’s easier
than working.

But….

QUOTE

In 2019 the shock to pork supplies from an outbreak of African swine fever
in China, the world’s biggest consumer of pig meat, sent global food-price
inflation well above 4%.

A year later the spread of covid-19 caused havoc with the world’s supply
chains, pushing the cost of producing and transporting food higher.

The war in Ukraine made matters worse. Commodity traders fretted that
Ukraine and Russia—both important producers of cereals, oilseed and
fertiliser—would struggle to maintain their exports. The year-on-year
increase in food prices is now at its fastest this century.

ENDQUOTE

--
Spike

Frogface blames the Tories for the mess that HE has caused - the lying racist swivel has trashed this country and as usual with these clowns, says it's someone else's fault.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn5WQ8AXkCQYxX-?format=jpg&name=medium

swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Frogface blames the Tories for the mess that HE has caused - the lying
> racist swivel has trashed this country and as usual with these clowns,
> says it's someone else's fault.

> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn5WQ8AXkCQYxX-?format=jpg&name=medium

You apparently don’t read the business news, which contains such gems as “A
mass exodus of finance jobs out of London failed to materialise
post-Brexit, despite warnings about hundreds of thousands of jobs migrating
to the Continent. ”

--
Spike

What they really thought before the swivels and racists bribed them with power and money.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn5mPQfWQAAcF2U?format=jpg&name=medium

Spike <Aero.Spike@mail.invalid> wrote:
> swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Frogface blames the Tories for the mess that HE has caused - the lying
>> racist swivel has trashed this country and as usual with these clowns,
>> says it's someone else's fault.
>
>> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn5WQ8AXkCQYxX-?format=jpg&name=medium
>
> You apparently don’t read the business news, which contains such gems as “A
> mass exodus of finance jobs out of London failed to materialise
> post-Brexit, despite warnings about hundreds of thousands of jobs migrating
> to the Continent. ”

I think you seem to be deflecting attention away from the lack of bankers
exodus to the Continent.

--
Spike

Keep going Brextards, any day now.
Fools - you've been had.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn5oqlbWAA0OI8O?format=jpg&name=medium

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Keep going Brextards, any day now.
> Fools - you've been had.

> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn5oqlbWAA0OI8O?format=jpg&name=medium
That’s a year old, but doubtless you see it as useful for the Remain/Rejoin
movement’s Ministry of Truth output.

--
Spike

Where are the "benefits", Brextards?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn5_z06WQAE3ZvT?format=jpg&name=medium

'£200k of seafood wasted and that's just the beginning. Sorry Jeremy Hunt, Brexit has been devastating'

It's just after noon at Openshaw's New Smithfield Market and, after a typically early start, Mariella Gabbutt is finishing up for the day. But she's still got time to talk about an issue she says has 'decimated' her industry and the country.

"Brexit has been totally devastating for us," says Mariella, whose family have run wholesale fish and meat supplier J+B Wilde for more than 100 years. "The cost of everything we import has gone up by at least 25 per cent, minimum.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/200k-seafood-wasted-thats-just-26089783

UK Is In 'Most Difficult' Position Of All Major World Economies, Mark Carney Says.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-is-in-most-difficult-position-of-all-major-world-economies-mark-carney-says_uk_63d0f5b1e4b01a43638a8bae?fbclid=IwAR16KzGzQJzQrQwKYiJQhy_MivNEnGF4z82YKhhk5x5a9XCghtw4CDqLno0

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> '£200k of seafood wasted and that's just the beginning. Sorry Jeremy
> Hunt, Brexit has been devastating'
>
> It's just after noon at Openshaw's New Smithfield Market and, after a
> typically early start, Mariella Gabbutt is finishing up for the day. But
> she's still got time to talk about an issue she says has 'decimated' her
> industry and the country.
>
> "Brexit has been totally devastating for us," says Mariella, whose family
> have run wholesale fish and meat supplier J+B Wilde for more than 100
> years. "The cost of everything we import has gone up by at least 25 per cent, minimum.
>
> https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/200k-seafood-wasted-thats-just-26089783

Can you explain why the lady who was interviewed blamed covid and the
Ukraine war on Brexit?

--
Spike

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> UK Is In 'Most Difficult' Position Of All Major World Economies, Mark Carney Says.
>
> https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-is-in-most-difficult-position-of-all-major-world-economies-mark-carney-says_uk_63d0f5b1e4b01a43638a8bae?fbclid=IwAR16KzGzQJzQrQwKYiJQhy_MivNEnGF4z82YKhhk5x5a9XCghtw4CDqLno0

“However, Carney said we should not lose sight of the “real strengths in
the economy”.”

--
Spike

At last - a tiny glimpse of the "sunlit uplands" ahead.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-michel-barnier-britain-brussels-london-b1057243.html?fbclid=IwAR01xKQLdxa3T_vhP7iH8UJaSLv_vKLbsY79sB1OhDG6oIQoDzrrf4Qapy4

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> At last - a tiny glimpse of the "sunlit uplands" ahead.

> https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-michel-barnier-britain-brussels-london-b1057243.html?fbclid=IwAR01xKQLdxa3T_vhP7iH8UJaSLv_vKLbsY79sB1OhDG6oIQoDzrrf4Qapy4

The year previous to the first referendum concerning whether we would stay
in the EEC - the ‘stay in’ campaign being larded with misinformation - the
UK was a net beneficiary of the EEC’s largesse. By an amazing coincidence,
that was the only year that happened. The EEC and its successors then
sucked the financial resources out of the UK, to finance wine lakes and
butter mountains. ‘Sunny uplands’ indeed…for inefficient French farmers and
wine producers.

Thank goodness that’s behind us.

--
Spike

Why aren't these raving nutters taken away by doctors in white coats live on air?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn9V-ayWYAAoqlF?format=jpg&name=medium

Just one racist spot of thick swivels think that Brexit was a good idea - and it is getting smaller all the time as the gammons die off.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-regrets-map-uk-b2272117.html

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Just one racist spot of thick swivels think that Brexit was a good idea -
> and it is getting smaller all the time as the gammons die off.
>
> https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-regrets-map-uk-b2272117.html

Rejoining the EU won’t help. Well, well. But it will look good.

What utter crap on which to pursue a change in policy.

QUOTE

“It’s hard to imagine being in the EU would solve any of the country’s
current economic issues,” adding: “but perceptions matter”.

ENDQUOTE

--
Spike