Overview

Established in 1982, Sports Direct International plc has grown to become the UK’s number one sports retailer. The first shop was opened in Maidenhead under the name of Mike Ashley Sports. 2 years later, Preston Sports shop was opened in London and by 1992 the Company had 12 stores.

1995/96 saw the stores change to Sports Soccer along with the re-location of head office and warehouse to a 100,000 sq. foot unit in Dunstable. The number of retail stores had now increased to 50, along with the acquisition of the Donnay Brand.

By the year 2000 the Business had 80 stores and had formed a joint venture in Belgium with 22 stores trading as Disport. The Lillywhites chain of 10 stores and the Lonsdale Brand were acquired in 2002 and by 2003 the number of retail stores had increased to 150. In 2005  the Company began a major re brand of the stores, changing the fascias to Sports World.

In 2004 the Company acquired the Carlton, Karrimor, Slazenger and Dunlop brands, a year later saw this brand portfolio expand even further with the acquisitions of Campri, LA Gear, No Fear, Title and Voodoo Dolls brands. In 2006 the Company was relocated to a new Head Office and Warehouse in Shirebrook, Nottinghamshire. The Company acquired Gilesports, Hargreaves, Kangol, Streetwise and Original Shoe Company, these acquisitions increased the store portfolio to 476 during 2006/07.

Over the period of 2007/08 the Company has purchased Everlast Worldwide inc. along with the chain of Field and Trek stores, Sport 2000 Slovenia, Sportne Trgovine Doc and Smith & Brooks – a childrenswear specialist. The Company also sold Original Shoe Company and began another rebrand to sportsdirect.com. During the 2008/09 period the Company disposed of Streetwise.

As at 26 April 2009 the Group operated out of 359 stores in the United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland). The majority of stores trade under the Sports Direct.com fascia and some stores still trade under the Lillywhites, McGurks, Exsports, Gilesports and Hargreaves and  Field & Trek fascias.

Internationally, we operated 43 stores in Belgium, 13 in Slovenia, four in Holland, two in Cyprus and one in Luxembourg. The stores in Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Slovenia are wholly owned by the Group, and those in Cyprus are within a store under an agreement with a local retailer. We continue with our strategy to identify partners in new territories whilst continuing to expand our operations in the countries where we currently trade.

We will focus on growing the core UK Retail business by continuing to drive efficiencies and deliver outstanding value to our customers. We have established an excellent platform for growth, and to develop our store portfolio, both in the UK and internationally, we will continue to evaluate opportunities and will take them when we believe there is quantifiable and significant benefit in doing so.

We will continue to work very closely with our major sports suppliers, such as the Nike Group and adidas Group to deliver the quality that our customers demand.

Outside the UK our brands business will focus on licensing opportunities and continue the restructuring of the wholesale businesses. We will continue to invest in our Brands through advertising and promise to spend and develop grass roots initiatives.

We are always looking for international retail partners and to develop new and existing licensing partners to broaden our area of supply.