Nextbike wants to go out on a limb
The company operating the city’s bicycles a few years ago was earning crores, then chafed against bankruptcy. Today it is in restructuring and struggling to survive.
Nexbike, a company that operates urban bicycles, has been thriving until recently. In 2017, it recorded a profit of 4.4 million zlotys. In subsequent years, it nearly went bankrupt. Today it finds itself in restructuring. In 2019, its stock market valuation reached 80-100 million zlotys. Currently, it is only PLN 10 million.
Nextbike’s majority shareholder was the Larq fund, whose CEO is Wojciech Byj. He explains that the cause of the company’s problems was the actions of its minority shareholder, the German company Nextbike GmbH. It was responsible for providing technology and equipment to the Polish company. When it was taken over by the Co-Investors fund, it began seeking to acquire the Polish company and sell it. According to Wojciech Byja’s account, the company acted so that Nextbike would get into trouble and could be taken over cheaply.
Tomasz Wojtkiewicz, chairman of the current board of Nextbike Poland, disagrees with these allegations. In his opinion, the foreign investor, who today is the majority shareholder, is heavily involved in rescuing the company. He also points out that the company is closely supervised, so acting to its detriment by the main shareholder is not an option. In his opinion, the company was driven into financial trouble by the previous management.
The company is struggling to survive, but its stock price will not soon return to its former levels.
