Go Outdoor sales rise amid expansion push

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 20, 2017

Go Outdoor’s expanded store estate helped it lift its sales by 5.7% to £213.8m in the year to 29 January, with new large format stores in Chatham, Leeds, Belfast and Nottingham contributing to the growth.

The retailer, which specialises in outdoor clothing, footwear and equipment, was acquired by JD Sports Fashion in a £112m deal in November last year.

It trades from 60 large format stores nationwide and a significant, growing online website, serving both the UK and international territories.

During the period, the company worked towards integrating its shopping channels and rolled out a new service allowing customers to reserve items or collect online items in store.

Gross profit for the period was up 5% to £67m, while EBITDA increased slightly to £14m from £13.4m in the prior year. However, profit on ordinary activities before tax slumped 81% from £4.9m to £0.9m, as a result of an increase in exceptional items linked to the sale of the business.

Go Outdoors now belongs to the same stable of outdoor brands as Blacks, Millets and Ultimate Outdoors.

While it expects the wider economy and retail environment to remain challenging, it said the acquisition will help it boost its financial results going forward, as it continues to drive growth by opening new stores, improving its range and further developing its multi-channel infrastructure.