JD Sports, Ellesse and Speedo help boost Pentland revenues to £5.1bn

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jul 1, 2019

The JD Sports bonanza continues at Pentland Group, with the sports fashion retailer helping it post surging revenues and profits in 2018.

The global retail and brand management group is the majority shareholder in JD Sports Fashion, and as such it is benefitting significantly from the retailer’s continued growth.  

And JD Sports had a stellar 2018, delivering a record performance boosted by growing demand for sportswear and a rapid expansion. During the period, the company opened 83 new stores, including 78 in international markets, and took steps to expand into the US through the Finish Line acquisition and in the Iberian peninsula through Sport Zone. 

This had a positive impact on Pentland Group’s total revenues for the year ended 31 December 2018, which rose by 38.8% to £5.1 billion from £3.6 billion in 2017, its latest accounts revealed.

Group operating profit before amortisation of intangibles and exceptional items was up by 9.3% to £411 million in 2018, and group net assets increased by 31.0% to £1.7 billion.

Stephen Rubin, Chairman of Pentland Group, commented: “These results demonstrate our commitment to nurturing our brands and evolving our business to ensure that we meet the changing needs of our retail customers, brand partners and consumers.”

BRANDS DIVISION

It was also a year of growth for the group’s Brands division, which includes its own portfolio of brands such as Berghaus, Speedo and Canterbury as well as licenses.

Whilst the group abstained from releasing figures for each brand, it said Ellesse enjoyed double-digit revenue growth globally, while Speedo grew strongly driven by a 40% increase in China.

2018 also saw Pentland acquire the Endura cycling brand and become the global footwear license partner for Karen Millen, two deals that will no doubt deliver more revenue growth.

And its Canterbury rugby brand is set to gain more visibility at the Rugby World Cup, which is taking place on 20 September until 2 November in Tokyo, with the England, Ireland, Japan, Georgia, USA, Canada and Russia teams all competing in Canterbury.   

Finally, in January Pentland Group entered  into a joint-venture footwear business with Lacoste after more than 26 years of partnership and sold Ted Baker’s footwear license back to the brand owner.