 JJB said it has fared well despite a football-free summer |
Retailer JJB Sports has said it remains "positive" despite seeing an almost 4% fall in sales in the past six months. Trading this summer has been tough in comparison to last year when the football World Cup gave a huge boost to JJB's sales of replica shirts.
In an update, the Wigan firm said sales were down 3.9% in the 24 weeks to 15 July, as like-for-like sales fell 4.1%.
But the firm stressed the performance of its general sports merchandise and its health clubs was "satisfactory".
Football free
Like many retailers, JJB Sports has been affected by the poor weather in recent months and by the tougher economic climate following successive interest rate rises, analysts said.
But excluding sales of replica football shirts, JJB said sales were up 1.8% over the six month period to the middle of July.
"We have now passed through the trading period which included the very difficult comparatives of the 2006 World Cup," said non-executive chairman Roger Lane-Smith.
"I believe that despite these tough comparatives our trading results have been satisfactory."
The firm said it was looking at ways of increasing sales of own brand products and was considering a "number of opportunities".
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