«Cycleurope had solid commercial foundations thanks to its iconic brands, but suffered from a lack of investment in recent years, and a shareholder (the Swedish group Grimaldi, editor’s note) who perhaps sought to disengage from Francesays Grégory Trébaol, president of the Rebirth group. Initially, we decided to adopt a defensive strategy, and to seek out a major customer to deliver large volumes in 2025.» The client in question is the Belgian start-up Cowboy, which designs connected electric bikes. Between 14,000 and 18,000 electrically assisted bicycles will have to be delivered to it per year; according to the Rebirth group, this represents a “doubling of the order book».
To support this growth, the Rebirth group is planning several investments and recruitments, having already had to spend just under ten million euros for the takeover of Cycleurope – which becomes Re-Cycles France –, according to our information. In 2023, Cycleurop had achieved a turnover of 25 million and had 43 employees.
Initial investments have been made: a line of bicycle wheel racks manufactured by the local company Bikebotix has already been delivered. Others are planned, such as the installation of two overhead assembly lines, in the first half of 2025, for one million euros.
Patricia, who has worked on the Romilly site for 30 years, installs spokes on a wheel. Photo: L’Usine Nouvelle
Upcoming investments and recruitment
But the biggest investment to come concerns the construction of a new, much more modern site, close to the current one, which will allow the group to “restore production density to the industrial site”. The new site, planned for 2027, will have an area of 25,000 m2smaller than the current 36,000 m2but much larger than the Rebirth factory in Saint-Lô (Manche), which extends over 4000 m2. For now, the amount of investment needed for the new factory is estimated between “15 and 17 million euros».
To support its growth, Re-Cycles France will recruit around thirty profiles by January 2025. “We are mainly looking for production operators. For this, we work with the local mission and the second chance schoolindicates Valérie Noblet, human resources manager at Re-Cycles France. We are also part of Interface 10, a group of employers in the department which allows us to have temporary employees.»
Ultimately, Grégory Trébaol would like to achieve production of 250,000 bicycles per year, enough to capture 10 to 12% of annual bicycle sales in France.
