Sport & Leisure
Sport & Leisure covers the business performance, product innovation, and consumer trends driving the UK’s sports, fitness, and leisure retail sectors. This section reports on brand strategy, partnerships, sustainability, and digital engagement across apparel, equipment, and lifestyle categories. Retail Sector’s Sport & Leisure coverage provides insight for retailers, suppliers, and brand managers into how evolving health trends, technology, and consumer behaviour are shaping growth and competition in this dynamic market.
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Apr- 2023 -19 April
Halfords anticipates mid-term profit and sales boost
Halfords has predicted that it will see a rise in both profits and sales in both the mid-term and mid-to-long term, as announced at its Capital Markets Day for investors and analysts. In the mid-term, the group expects sales to grow to around £1.9bn and profit-before-tax to grow to £90-£110m.…
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Mar- 2023 -30 March
Decathlon launches UK first rental scheme
Sports retailer Decathlon has launched a rental service across all of its UK stores, becoming the first sports retailer in the country to do so. The rental service has been rolled out across all UK stores following a successful trial at four stores, where customers found that the offering allowed…
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29 March
American Golf appoints new CEO
International Leisure Group in conjunction with Endless LLP has announced Nigel Oddy as its newly appointed CEO. Oddy will succeed Gary Favell from 11 April 2023 and assume responsibilities for ILG, including Europe’s leading golf retailer, American Golf. Before joining American Golf, Oddy most recently held the position of interim…
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22 March
Nike Q3 revenues up 14% to $12.4bn
Sportswear brand Nike has announced that its Q3 revenues increased 14% to $12.4bn (£10bn) for the three months ended 28 February 2023. It stated that Nike Direct sales were $5.3bn (£4.3bn), up 17% on a reported basis and up 22% on a currency-neutral basis. Alongside this Nike brand digital sales…
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Feb- 2023 -23 February
Angling Direct revenues see uptick in FY23
Angling Direct has seen revenues rise by 2.2% to £74.1m in FY23, in line with expectations, as sales rose despite “significant” consumer headwinds across its key markets. The group said its growth was underpinned by “robust” store sales, which rose by 6.8% to £41.3m, as its store roll out strategy…
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21 February
Marks & Spencer launches The Sport Edit following acquisition
Marks & Spencer has launched The Sports Edit on M&S.com, following the acquisition of the sports platform at the beginning of 2022. The new sportswear collection will include more than 200 sportswear and apparel products across women’s activewear and apparel from third-party brands including Beyond Yoga, FP Movement, Girlfriend Collective…
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13 February
Castore in $200m fundraising talks in bid to rival Nike and Adidas
Sportswear brand Castore is reportedly in talks with investors about a $200m (£166m) fundraising deal as it aims to compete with sportswear giants Nike and Adidas. According to Sky News, Castore has appointed Rothschild to advise the process and secure a significant capital injection. Initial talks with prospective investors have…
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Jan- 2023 -9 January
Decathlon to introduce ‘movement breaks’ to boost staff wellbeing
Decathlon has introduced ‘movement breaks’ to all 1,655 of its members of staff in the UK to “improve mental wellbeing during the difficult month of January” and has also called on other businesses to do the same. Decathlon, the sports retailer, has introduced the workplace initiative following new research that…
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Nov- 2022 -15 November
Next announces new partnership with Fanatics
Next has announced a new connected inventory partnership with digital sportswear seller Fanatics which will allow it to sell officially licensed sports merchandise. For the first time in Europe, Fanatics will partner with a major retailer to give its customers access to thousands of products from the top leagues and…
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Jun- 2022 -28 June
Former Boots CEO seals merger deal to form Sportscape Group
Bridgepoint Development Capital, and Bd-capital has announced its merger of Private Sport Shop and SportPursuit, to form Sportscape Group, an e-commerce platform and community focused on sports and outdoor retail. Sportscape will retail brands such as Berghaus, Canterbury and Garmin at discounted prices, with a focus on snowsports and cycling.…
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