 At the time it had around 250 employees and sales of around £18.7m.Within 24 hours, by 9 March 2004, its assets were bought out for £5 million by Lonsdale Sports, part of the Sports Direct group of companies, who broke up the company, sold the outlets (both YHA and Karrimor's own), retaining mainly the rights to the brand name, which was licensed to such events as the long-standing Karrimor International Mountain Marathon (which later became the Original Mountain Marathon), and the company's intellectual property.Following completion of the transaction, customer service activities such as lifetime warranties and repair services on previously sold goods were cancelled or outsourced.