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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Jul- 2021 -19 July
NBA launches debut UK store in partnership with Fanatics
The National Basketball Association (NBA), in partnership with sports merchandise retailer Fanatics, has announced the launch of a debut UK NBA store. Located at 14-16 Foubert’s Place in London’s Carnaby, Soho area, the store features a range of NBA and WNBA merchandise and memorabilia. Products such as apparel, jerseys, headwear,…
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2 July
JD Sports shareholders vote out remuneration director
Shareholders at JD Sports have voted to remove the company’s remuneration director Andrew Leslie following the unpopular decision to award executive chairman Peter Cowgill a £4.3m bonus. The decision was made at the company’s AGM yesterday (1 July) after JD failed to convince enough institutional investors to vote for Leslie…
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Jun- 2021 -28 June
JD Sports snaps up Spanish online retailer
JD Sports had agreed to acquire Deporvillage, a Spanish online retailer focussing on the sale of specialist sports equipment, for €140.4m (£120.4m). The group’s 50.02% intermediate holding company in Spain, entered into a conditional agreement to acquire 80% of the issued shares in Deporvillage SL. Based in Manresa in Catalonia,…
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17 June
Halfords profits soar in FY21 amid cycling boom
Halfords has welcomed a “strong” year of trading, as pre-tax profit soared by 72.3% to £96.3m in its preliminary results for the year ended 2 April 2021. In the same period, revenue rose by 13.1% to £1.3bn, while total revenue across its retail business rose by 9.4%. Retail LFL sales…
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1 June
JD Sports denies Cowgill exit rumours
JD Sports has denied rumours that its executive chairman, Peter Cowgill, is leaving the helm of the retail group. The response follows speculation which arose over the weekend after reporters discovered a line in JD’s annual report which suggested that the group may be increasing its succession plans. On Saturday…
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May- 2021 -20 May
Gymshark names Danielle Petesic as chief product officer
Gymshark, the fitness apparel brand, has appointed Danielle Petesic as its new chief product officer (CPO), taking over the role from founder, Ben Francis. Petesic joins Gymshark after almost four years as Lululemon’s vice president of Product Development, where she was responsible for all product engineering and development of all…
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12 May
Angling Direct FY21 revenues soar 27.1%
Angling Direct, the fishing tackle and equipment retailer, saw group revenue spike 27.1% year-on-year to £67.6m in FY21. The firm’s gross profit rose 39.5% from £16.6m in FY20 to £23.1m this year, as its EBITDA climbed £5m to £5.7m for the 12 months to 31 January 2021. Online sales at…
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10 May
Andy Rubin steps down from JD Sports’ board
JD Sports Fashion has announced the departure of Andy Rubin as non-executive director from its board, leaving the position on 6 May 2021. Rubin has been replaced on the board by Andy Long, as a non-executive director, with effect from 6 May 2021. Currently, Long serves as an executive director…
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Apr- 2021 -13 April
JD Sports ‘retains profitability’ in FY21
JD Sports has posted a pre-tax profit of £421.3m, before exceptional items, in its financial results for the year to 30 January 2021. While this represents a drop in pre-tax profit from the previous year, down from £438.8m, the sports retailer confirmed it has “retained substantially all of its record…
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Mar- 2021 -25 March
Decathlon moves to 35,000 sq ft Trinity Leeds store
Decathlon UK has announced it will be moving to a new 35,000 sq ft flagship store in Trinity Leeds, which is owned by property company Landsec. Opening later this month, the store will be housed in a former BHS site which spans over two floors, and will initially focus on…
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