THE cycling apparel manufacturer which makes kits for one of the biggest teams that competes in the Tour de France has been sold.

Livingston-based Endura, which supplies kit to the Movistar Team and sponsors trials cyclist Danny MacAskill, has been acquired by Pentland Brands, the UK firm behind Speedo, Berghaus and Mitre.

Endura’s founders and directors, Jim McFarlane and Pamela Barclay, will continue to hold 15.5 per cent of the business.

The acquisition for an undisclosed amount fits Pentland’s strategy of acquiring high potential, high growth brands for the long-term.

Private equity houses Penta Capital and Maven Capital Partners held stakes in Endura before the sale.

Mr McFarlane, who co-founded the business in 1993, said: “Endura has been my life for 25 years, so I’m understandably protective of it and dismissed numerous other approaches in the past.”

The Herald:

Endura was founded with an aim to advance the performance and function of cycle apparel. Its range has become established across road cycling and mountain biking.

It has been working with Movistar Team for the past five seasons. That deal moved the company up to the elite level, designing and making equipment for the UCI WorldTour for the first time.

Kits worn by Grand Tour cyclists such as Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quniana are hand-made by the firm in Livingston. And the company this month unveiled what it claims is the fastest cycling suit ever made, which reduces the aerodynamic drag of the wearer.

The Herald:

In the year to April 2017, Endura made a £1.6m pre-tax profit on sales of £25m. Pentland’s revenue is almost £3bn.

“Pentland is more than 100 times the size we are, but their shape is very well aligned with what we’re comfortable with,” said Mr McFarlane.

He said the deal came about after he began looking for an investor to replace Penta’s 23% stake. with the group looking for an exit at the end of a four-year investment period.

Mr McFarlane said the timing of Pentland’s approach was coincidental and the reason the deal moved from replacing Penta’s stake to a full majority was because of what the wider group’s resources gives Endura access to.

“We can drive the business in a bigger and more interesting way,” said Mr McFarlane.

While Endura exports to more than 40 countries, the vast majority of its business in the UK, Europe and US. In contrast, Pentland’s portfolio is sold across 190 countries.

Mr McFarlane said the company was “relatively weak” in Asia, which could now open up. “Japan is one of the biggest markets in cycle and we don’t do anything there because it’s such a slow process [because of the] business culture in Japan and we don’t have sufficient resource to plug away at it,” he said.

Almost half of Movistar Team’s following is in South America as it is a Spanish-speaking team, but Mr McFarlane said the company has never sold into the continent because of import duty restrictions.

“Pentland are experts in licensing, something we have never had any experience of. That may be another avenue that unlocks something that would never have been there in our existing model.”

The Herald:

Endura said no job cuts were planned. It currently employs about 200 staff, more than half of whom are based in Livingston – home to its manufacturing and central functions. There is a subsidiary in Indianapolis, which is home to 15 staff and there are about 20 in Shanghai, and a further 20 or so sales staff across Europe and the UK.

“The reasons we’ve done [this deal] is because it is the best opportunity for the business, which remains in Scotland, and for the people, who are more in Scotland than anywhere else in the business,” said Mr McFarlane.