Despite red ink at its Outdoor Division, JD Sports Fashion plc expanded its holdings in the United Kingdom’s specialty outdoor market last week by acquiring a controlling stake in Tiso Group, a 10-door retailer of outdoor clothing and equipment based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In addition to 10 locations in Scotland, Tiso Group operates Bluestheskishop.com and Alpinebikes.com. Founder Chris Tiso will remain chief executive while JD Sports Executive Chairman Peter Cowgill will serve as the Tiso chairman. The BBC reported Tiso Group lost more than £1 million in 2012, compared with a profit of £790,000 in 2011.
JD Sports will add Tiso to its Outdoor Division, which it created in early 2012 after paying £20 million to acquire leases and inventory for nearly 300 Blacks and Millets outdoor specialty stores out of administration, or the British equivalent of bankruptcy JD Sports has since closed 157, or half of those stores, but said in September that the restructuring of the Outdoor Division was substantially complete. By closing stores and consolidating warehouse operations with its other retail banners, JD Sports cut SG&A expenses at the Outdoor Division by 90 basis points to 42.8 percent in the six months ended Aug. 3. Still, the division lost £8.9 during the period due to the restructuring costs and heavy discounting of winter inventory.
JD Sports also sells athletic apparel and footwear across Europe through its JD Sports, Chausport, Champion and Sprinter banners and sells fashion through other specialty retail chains. JD Sports reported consolidated earnings doubled to about $7 million in the six months ended Aug. 3 on sales of about $900 million.
