JJB Sports Plc said that on a like-for-like basis, the company's revenues were down 29% for the 20-week period ended on Dec. 13, compared to the same period last year. The UK-based sports retailer also said that it remains cautious about Christmas and New Year and expects difficult trading within the current environment.
Overall, revenues were down 52% in the 20-week period.
JJB Sports said that like-for-like sales have shown some improvement since the half year. While August like-for-like sales decreased 37%, September and October like-for-like sales dropped 27% and November like-for-like sales slid 21%.
JJB also stated that like-for-like sales showed a 32% slide in the first three weeks of December as last year's sale started on Nov. 25, 2008 and continued up to March 2009. Meanwhile, this year's sale will start on Dec. 26 and the company expects to launch the new Spring ranges before the end of January.
Further, JJB said that since the first half of the year, overall gross margin improved by 12 percentage points to 46% for the 20-week period. However, this was 90 basis points lower than the comparable period last year. The company is beginning to take delivery of the new stock as the stock holding has improved from the half year's GBP 50 million and is now 19% lower than the last year.
JJB also stated that 400 million new ordinary shares of 5 pence were listed on the London Stock Exchange on November 3 following the successful £100 million capital raising on October 28. The company will use the net proceeds of approximately £94 million to pay down its £30.5 million borrowings with Bank of Scotland. The facility has now been amended to a 3-year £25 million facility expiring on September 30, 2012.
