The bike industry will not get better this year: Brompton profits nosedive by over 99% amid “really sad state of affairs”. The folding bike brand’s profits fell from £10.6m in 2023 to just £4,602 last year, as total bike sales dropped by almost 7,000 and operating costs increased.
The challenges faced by the bike industry over the past few years appear to show no signs of abating in 2025, after Brompton’s managing director warned that the cycling industry “will not get better this year”, as the folding bicycle manufacturer revealed that its profits have plunged by over 99 per cent following a “challenging” year. the iconic folding bike brand’s latest accounts make for more sobering reading, as the British manufacturer cited increased operational costs, an over-dependency on China, and heavy discounting by rivals as key factors behind its recent nosedive in profits. overall turnover fell by 5.3 per cent compared to the previous year (from £129.4m to £122.6m) as the total number of bikes sold (84,899) dropped by 8.2 per cent, from 91,785, a consequence Brompton says of the “wider global economic uncertainty and challenges in the cycling industry”. This has resulted in a pre-tax profit of just £4,602 for the year – the equivalent of one of the brand’s top-of-the-range T Line models – down from £10,680,953 the previous year. 'Survive until 2025... if we can get to the end of this year, we'll be okay': British bike manufacturers hoping to make it through industry woes Profit before tax, meanwhile, represented a 0.0 per cent margin on sales (compared to 8.3 per cent in 2023), a decrease attributed to the “miss in budgeted sales” by the company, as well as the “delay in being able to respond with a reduction in costs due the committed and fixed nature of a number of them”. Brompton also noted that its reliance on exports continues, accounting for 80 per cent of all bike unit sales (up from 74 per cent the previous year)