Dozens Of Evans Cycles Stores To Be Closed As Mike Ashley Buys It Out Of Administration telegraph.co.uk

Dozens of stores belonging to Evans Cycles will be shut after the stricken bike retailer became the latest high street name to be snapped up by the retail tycoon Mike Ashley.

Mr Ashley, whose Sports Direct empire has agreed to buy the chain out of a pre-pack administration, said he was “pleased to have rescued” the brand but that “in order to save the business we only believe we will be able to keep 50pc of stores open in the future.”

Evans, which was bought by private equity firm ECI for £75m in 2015 and has around 60 shops employing 1,300 staff, has struggled amid rising costs and a fall in consumer spending that have felled a number of major retailers this year.