19th Feb 2014 07:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sports Direct International PLC Wednesday said gross profit grew by 14.6% in its fiscal third quarter, buoyed by double-digit revenue growth which was fueled by strong growth in retail and online sales, and it is confident it will meet its expectations for full-year underlying earnings.
Sports Direct, the UK's biggest sports goods retailer by revenue, said that group sales for the 13 weeks to January 26 were up over 11.2% to GBP655.4 million, and its gross profit increased almost 14.6% to GBP280.7 million. This compares to group sales of GBP589.5 million and a gross profit of GBP244.8 million, for the same period a year earlier.
The sales and gross profits of Sports Eybl & Sports Experts AG and Sportland International Group AS, which were acquired in June and August last year, were excluded from the figures.
"While we retain the ability to invest in margin, inventory and group marketing to deliver long-term sustainable growth, the board is very confident of achieving at least our full year internal underlying EBITDA target of GBP310 million, before the charge for the Employee Bonus Share Scheme," said Chief Executive Officer Dave Forsey in a statement.
The group said that its online business performed strongly during the period, and it expects its non-UK online gross profit contribution to be greater than the UK equivalent by the end of the financial year.
Sports retail sales for the period rose 6.9% to GBP529.9 million, up from GBP495.8 million a year earlier, and its gross profit for the division increased by 3% to GBP230.0 million. It increased store space for the UK sports retail division in the period to about 4.2 million square feet, up from 4.0 million.
Premium Lifestyle sales in the 13 week period were up 53% to GBP71.2 million, with gross profit increasing 39% to GBP28.4 million.
Revenue from the group's Brands division rose almost 16% to GBP54.3 million, up from GBP47.0 million a year earlier, and gross profit increased by 7.7% to GBP22.3 million.
Sports Direct said it will release its full year results on July 17.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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