BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Steve Briggs, founder, owner and director of Pragmasis and SecurityForBikes, has announced
that they will be closing the manufacturing and retail/despatch business later this year.
In a letter sent to BikeBiz, Briggs said: “I’m sad to report that we have been finding times hard for a long time now. The blunt reality is that we’ve been losing money for quite a while with overheads and costs going up.
“Not much, but still cash going the wrong way and it all adds to the stress and worry that has taken its toll over the long-term. We’ve been retrenching back to a reduced product range and also making other cost savings and have tried lots of sales-boosting strategies over the last two-plus years but they haven’t turned it around.
The business is now actively in the process of shrinking from three factory units down to two, and it’s expected to be shrinking from two units down to none around October this year.
“I started this company with my wife in 2003, more than 20 years ago, continues Briggs.
“Very sadly, she passed away six years ago and my health has been getting worse. Probably a lot to do with long-term stress, plus I got Covid, again, back in February and that has caused many more problems for me since then.
“My partner Rosie and I also want to spend more time taking care of our Alvecote Wood conservation site, something that has been rather neglected over the last few years due to us struggling with the business.
“My team and our suppliers have all been brilliant, but the Cost of Living crisis combined with the Ukraine situation on top of Brexit and Covid have all hit us.“
Briggs and his business associates are having ongoing discussions about possible licensing opportunities for Pragmasis and SecurityForBikes where another company could take over manufacturing some of the products under licence.
Further applications are welcome from established businesses, ideally already active in the security sector.
“We have stock on most of our product range now, but that is changing,” he says.
“Indeed, the stock situation could change quite quickly as we make more public announcements. We are doing our best to take care of customers as well as suppliers and staff, as we always have.”
Despite having to make this difficult announcement, Briggs is proud of what Pragmasis and SecurityForBikes have achieved over the last two decades – and rightly so.
“I think we can claim to have been the top end of our market for much of our 20-year period, repeatedly raising the bar with our innovative designs such as the Torc Ground Anchors, Shed Shackle, Double Doofer removable ground anchor, as well as the Protector range of security chains,” he explains.
“We were also the very first to employ anti-angle grinder materials into motorcycle security products when we introduced our ‘Super’ Anti-Pinch Pin, which incorporated Tungsten Carbide inserts to increase grinder cutting times.
“Since then, supplemented with the even tougher Super Dooper Anti-Pinch Pin. Prior to all that, such materials were only commonplace within the structure of safes and prison cells. Now, there are more products from much larger companies to make the life of thieves even harder. Anything that deters thieves is good for all of us.”
All of these products have stopped thefts occurring, and many still are, with the business supplying more than 40,000 customers since its inception.
Briggs summarised by saying: “We’ve only been a small company but we have helped to change the game during our time.
“Thank you to everyone: all our customers, suppliers and partners.”
During the winding down process, orders are still being accepted and shipped until Pragmasis stock has been cleared through.
Further updates will be made in due course online at: SecurityForBikes.com
