Sports Direct International plc's comparable store sales grew 10.5 percent in the fiscal year ended April 27 on top of a 10.6 percent increase in the prior fiscal year, according to preliminary figures released by the rapidly growing U.K. based retailer.


 

The U.K.-based company reported Sports Retail revenue reached £2.27 billion, up 24.1 percent. Online revenue grew 26.8 percet and now represents 17.1 percent of all Sports Retail sales.  Reported profit before tax was up 15.6 percent to £239.5m compared with £207.2m in the prior fiscal year and underlying free cash generation was £277.2 million. 

 

 

The company, which also operates Premium Lifestyle and Brands segments, signed 84 new license agreements with contracted values of £51 million over the life of the agreements.

 

“We have delivered another record year of out-performance especially within our Sports Retail division,” said CEO Dave Forsey. “This success is underpinned by our core strategy, offering our customers a wide range of products which represent exceptional quality and unbeatable value. Through both individual hard work and operating as a team, against a particularly tough comparative which included the UEFA European Championships and the 2012 London Olympics, we have significantly out-performed the third underlying EBITDA target of £260m set under the 2011 Employee Bonus Share Scheme. This means that the Group has now successfully met the first three targets and the Board is very confident of achieving the final target of £300m under the 2011 Employee Bonus Share Scheme.


 

“Overall trading since the year end has been in line with management’s expectations with some stronger weeks offset by England’s disappointing World Cup matches,” Forsey continued. “Consistent with previous guidance, we continue to target underlying EBITDA (before share scheme costs) of £360m for the current period.”

 

Sports Direct Chairman Keith Hellawell said the company’s international expansion was on track thanks to the acquisition of a Eybl and Sports Experts AG (EAG) in Austria, and Sportland International Group (SIG) in the Baltic region.

 

Expansion of the Shirebrook Sports Direct store, including the addition of a c. 9,000-square-foot shop dedicated Nike – has been completed. The company will break ground soon on an additional 600,000-square-foot warehouse and office extension at its Shirebrook campus that will be pivotal in facilitating its ambitious growth plans. The Group recently signed a new £688m committed, unsecured revolving credit facility which will help finance the company’s growth plans over the next four years.



























































Sport Direct International plc financial KPIs


Group revenue


£2,706.0m


£2,185.6m


£1,807.2m


£1,835.8m


Underlying EBITDA (1)


£331.1m


£287.9m


£235.7m


£240.1m


Sports Retail gross margin


42.9%


40.3%


40.3%


40.3%


Sports Retail like-for-like stores gross contribution (3)


+10.5%


+10.6%


+0.7%


+0.7%


Online revenue as a percentage of total Sports Retail revenue (4)


17.1%


15.0%


11.6%


11.6%


Underlying earnings per share (5)


32.1p


26.9p


18.7p


19.2p


Non-financial KPIs


No. of Sports Retail stores (6)


665


498


483


Employee turnover


19.2%


15.5%


17.0%


Cardboard recycling


9,230 tonnes


8,893 tonnes


6,622 tonnes