FGL Sports' same-store sales grew 4.8 percent in its fiscal second quarter as its Pro Hockey Life and Atmosphere outdoor stores chipped in with strong comparable store sales growth on top of another strong performance from its flagship Sport Check chain.
FGL Sports generated revenue of C$444.0 million ($361 mm) in the fiscal second quarter ended July 4, an increase of 6.8 percent on top of 13.7 percent growth a year earlier, parent company Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd (CTC) reported. The same-store sales growth came on top of an 8.2 percent increases in the year earlier quarter. Sales per square foot increased 4.5 percent to C$293 ($238).
At Sport Chek, same-store sales grew 8.6 percent.
“They continue to put up some great numbers especially when you consider the comps they were up against last year, that also included World Cup men's soccer sales which actually hurt the overall Chek comp number by about 2 percent,” said CTC President and CEO Michael Medline.
FGL Sports ended the quarter with 433 retail locations, including 187 Sport Chek, 73 Sports Experts, 67 Atmosphere and 106 other locations.
“We have also been seeing really strong progress from two of our smaller FGL businesses that we don't often talk about, Pro Hockey Life and Atmosphere,” Medline added. “Their recent comp performance has been outstanding and deserves some recognition for the work that the teams have been doing to propel these businesses forward.”
With the exception of golf, FGL Sports largest core categories, including athletic, continued to grow in the mid-teens, said FGL Sports Chief Operating Officer Chad McKinnon.
“Electronics is just still on fire,” said McKinnon, noting revenue from the category more than doubled on top of very strong growth a year earlier.
Backfilling Nevada Bob's
After six consecutive years of high, single-digit growth, McKinnon said he sees no signs FGL Sports sales will slow, although he said competition is mounting in the footwear space.
This winter, for the third year in a row, the company will cut the space dedicated to Nevada Bob's golf shop-in-shops by half and backfill the space with higher margin categories. The company has made incremental investments in inventory to fuel top line growth online.
“We even think there is still opportunity in some of our seasonal categories, by adjusting our store space and getting after business in high-margin stuff like kids outerwear, winter accessories that give us much better margin, and better productivity in the winter season,” McKinnon said.
While the company has identified cycling as a growth opportunity, it is leaning toward building that business online.
“Our hardgoods business and our bike business is solid,” he said. “We are attracting new brands, but we will start to use e-commerce for that. Our store space is tight. We think we can do a real nice job of growing our business online by extending out our cycling apparel business at higher margins.”
