Profits up at old Champion Sports outlets

JD Sports, the UK-listed sports fashion retailer which operates 28 outlets in Ireland, has almost completed the conversion of the Champion Sports chain it bought here during the last crash, as the stores' profitability rises.

Yearly accounts recently filed for Champion Sports Ireland show there were just four stores bearing the old name at the end of January, after the Champion store at Mahon Point in Cork changed fascia brand to JD Sports. These were concentrated mostly in Dublin.

Rebranded stores, the group said, are subsequently shifted out of Champion Sports Ireland into another entity, John David Sports Fashion Ireland (JDSFI).

The Champion stores that remain to be rebranded performed significantly better last year than in previous years. They had sales last year of €14.3 million, according to the accounts, a similar level of sales to the previous 12 months. However, their profits almost trebled to €2.2 million.

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JDSFI accounts for the year to the end of January have not yet been filed, although it had sales of €70 million the previous year, suggesting the overall JD Sports group has Irish sales of about €85 million.

The stock market listed group does not break out its Irish performance in its results.