Michelin bags Blackcircles for €67 million

Paris – Michelin Group has acquired UK online tire sales company Blackcircles.com for £50 million (€67 million), the French group announced 6 May.

Edinburgh-based Blackcircles, which is run by founder Mike Welch, has increased sales by around 20 percent a year since 2008. In 2013, the company generated sales of £28 million from its online offering, which includes both tire sales and service.

According to Michelin’s statement, sales at the acquired business were 34 percent the first quarter of 2015, compared to the same period last year. Blackcircles, it said, is likely to continue on a growth track from “years to come" on the back of a UK e-business boom.

In the same statement, Blackcircles founder Welch said Michelin would “allow us to underpin the multi-brand offering that we deploy in each garage, on every street corner. I am convinced that our teams, our customers, our garages and our suppliers will rapidly start to see the benefits of this partnership."

For its part, Michelin said the acquisition would help improve the performance of its mix of distribution channels in the UK, particularly via synergies with its ATS Euromaster its established distributor.

The deal further signals Michelin’s e-sales ambitions, coming hot on the heals of its mid-April acquisition in of a 40-percent stake in Allopneus, a leading French online tire sales company.