Raleigh: Future of historic bicycle maker in doubt

The future of Raleigh, which was once the largest bicycle maker in the world, has been put into doubt after being served with warning notices from Companies House.

The Nottinghamshire-headquartered business has received compulsory strike-off notices for both Raleigh UK and Raleigh Holdings after the firms failed to filed their accounts on time.

The two businesses have not filed their accounts for 2022 with Companies House which were due to be published by the end of last year.

As a result, Companies House has served them with first gazette notices which could lead to them being compulsory struck off the register if the accounts are not filed soon.

The move comes after Raleigh confirmed redundancies have been made at its headquarters ahead of its closure and relocation. 

Accell, which is the firm’s parent company, confirmed jobs had been lost at the Eastwood site in January 2024.

At the time, the Netherlands-based business said the parts and accessories operations would close and warehousing would be outsourced.

A statement issued in January said: “Following the launch of a business review and employee consultation, our proposed changes to Accell’s UK operations have been confirmed and will be implemented. 

“These changes will better integrate Accell UK into the wider group business and position our UK operations for sustainable growth while retaining our HQ in the Nottingham area. 

“This has been a very difficult decision and we are supporting those impacted by the changes, while maintaining our service to our bike shop partners and customers.”

Raleigh, which was founded in 1887, has been approached for comment.

Accell is owned by a consortium headed by global investment firm KKR.

Its portfolio includes significant names like Haibike, Winora, Ghost, Batavus, Lapierre, Babbo and Sparta.

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