EDINBURGH, Scotland—Michelin has acquired Blackcircles.com, a leading Internet tire sales company in the United Kingdom, its second acquisition of an Internet-based tire sales company in a month.
Michelin is paying $75.5 million for Edinburgh-based Black Circles Ltd., owner of Blackcircles.com, which generated $31 million in revenue in 2013.
Micheling spent $64 million in mid-April to buy a 40-percent share of Allopneus S.A.S. of Aix-en-Provence, France.
Run by its founder and CEO Mike Welch, Blackcircles.com has grown about 20 percent per year since 2008, in particular thanks to its “click & fit” formula, which includes the sale of the product and related services.
“Our strategy illustrates our ambition to be ever more innovative, efficient and proactive for our customers by offering them products and services suited to individual needs,” said Michelin CEO Jean-Dominique Senard in a statement, “and by simplifying the entire purchase process, from choosing their tires to having them fitted by professionals."
Welch said he was “delighted” to have found partner that “shares our passion for customer service, innovation and technology.
“The strength of the Michelin Group will 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.”
Michelin said its acquisition of Blackcircles.com will allow it to improve the performance of its mix of distribution channels in the United Kingdom, and in particular to develop synergies with its traditional distributor, ATS Euromaster, which sells about 10 million car and van tires and 2 million truck tires annually through its outlets and a network of mobile tire fitting vans.