'Another challenging year for the bicycle industry' - Canyon owner reports €38 million loss

Bike manufacturer Canyon suffered a net loss of €38 million (£32m/$43m) in 2024, with owner GBL reporting a 43% fall in the value of its investment from 2023 to 2024.

GBL (Groupe Bruxelles Lambert) reported in its 2024 financial statement that: "Canyon’s sales and profitability were impacted by increased discounting across the sector and quality issues in certain electric mountain bike models, forcing Canyon to temporarily suspend sales of these models. Canyon is addressing the situation with the utmost urgency and expects to resolve the issue by Q2 2025.”

According to a GBL 2024 financial statement seen by the BikeEurope industry website, the value of its investment had fallen 43% from €460m (£387m/$523m) in 2023 to €261m (£219m/$297m) at the end of last year.

While Canyon's consolidated revenue remained almost identical during the same period (€791m/£665m/$899m in 2023, €792m/£666/$900m in 2024) – up from €408m/£343m/$390m in 2021), the value of its inventory fell from €417.9m (£351m/$475m) at the end of 2023 to €351.6m (£295m/$475m) a year later, reported BikeEurope.

GBL, which originally bought a share of just over 50% in the German bicycle manufacturer for €400m (£336m/$454m) in 2020, said the market continued to be challenging, with overstock in some areas.

“Sales were stable in a challenging market environment characterised by oversupply in certain categories and aggressive discounting, particularly in electric and non-electric mountain bikes and city bikes."

In response, Canyon offered its own statement to BikeEurope.

“Our growth curve in 2024 was flatter compared to previous years," it said. "But it depends on the product category: some segments performed better than others, especially in Performance Road and Performance Gravel segments. In contrast, the demand for regular Mountain Bikes without electric drive systems has declined significantly.”

It continued: "While the economic situation in the bike industry is still strained in 2025 and key industry associations are forecasting another challenging year for the bicycle industry, we are taking a cautious approach to business planning this year, avoiding building up excess inventory for example. However, we are continuing to invest in key areas for long term success.

"In particular with the launch of new programmes such as MyCanyon, which launched in the US and APAC region earlier this year and will launch in Europe in July, we're offering customers the option to configure individual components such as saddles, drivetrain, wheels, and the artwork of their bike, further inspiring a premium audience."

It said it would be investing in "offline strategies" via global stories, Canyon Factory Service locations in Spain and a new team in Shanghai, supporting "growing sales in China".