Rapha CEO exits ahead of ‘significant organisational changes’

Rapha CEO Fran Millar has quit the cycling apparel specialist after two years at the helm as the business plans a major cost-cutting and efficiency drive.

In an Instagram post she said: “After two bonkers and brilliant years, I’ve decided to leave Rapha. The vision and strategy I set are in place, and the path ahead for the brand is clear. What remains is delivery. To support that, the business will make significant organisational changes to reduce cost and drive efficiency, and those changes call for a different governance and leadership structure. With that in mind, I proposed to the board that I step down as CEO.”

Millar had previously been CEO of the then-Ineos-owned Belstaff brand and had also been in charge of Team Ineos and Team Sky in cycling.

In a statement a few hours after news of her departure broke, Rapha said its “ongoing transformation programme” is seeing “encouraging green shoots, [but] we believe significant changes are essential to establish a stronger, more sustainable path forward. This involves a proposed organisational restructure and a formal consultation process with affected team members will now take place.” 

Founded by Simon Mottram, Rapha is now controlled by Steuart and Tom Walton (of the Walmart founding family) via their private equity firm RZC Investments.

It has been loss-making for multiple years and its last set of results almost a year ago showed an operating loss of £17.2 million, although that had narrowed compared to the previous year and various reports have cited the CFO saying amortisation accounted for around £10 million of that figure.