JJB Sports made an operating loss of £42.3million in the first half of 2009, despite a wholesale restructuring of the business. Total revenue also fell to £167.3million, a 21.3 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2008.
In his chairman’s statement, Sir David Jones said that the beleaguered retailer is improving store layout to make a more prominent feature of adidas and Nike lines and discontinuing the stocking of “downmarket’ brands”, replacing them with what Jones described as “internally developed own brands”.
“The progress we have made since the start of 2009 in restructuring and refinancing this company is a result of the hard work and efforts of everyone throughout the business,” says Jones. “I would like to extend the board’s continuing gratitude to our colleagues for their diligence.
“However, what we have achieved to date and the volume of work which remains to be done is a reminder of the state of financial health in which the company found itself at the start of the year.
“Today’s announcement shows a marked decline in ongoing retail operations compared to the same period last year, largely because of stock shortages in our stores during the period. We are confident that the actions we have taken during the period to restructure the business will allow us to move forward and rebuild our stock inventory by the first quarter of 2010.
“Although the retail environment remains challenging, we are encouraged by the early signs of improvement in like-for-like sales trends and gross margins in recent weeks.”
