JD Sports acquires Cecil Gee and Spanish sports retailer Sprinter

The sportswear retailer has snapped up eight of nine Cecil Gee stores from menswear retailer Moss Bross for £1.7m. JD intends to continue trading these stores with an enhanced but similar premium branded fashion offer.

It has also acquired a controlling stake in Sprinter and is to use its infrastructure to rollout JD’s own stores in the country.

Founders of Sprinter, the Segarra family, and major investors the Bernad family maintain a 49.9% share in the newly created JD Sprinter.

JD has made a €20m investment into JD Sprinter by way of subscription for its new shares.

Sprinter has 47 stores in the country and had a consolidated turnover of €80m and pre-tax profit of €2.1m for the year ending December 31 2009. 

JD Sports executive chairman Peter Cowgill said:  “These two acquisitions both result from our strategy of selectively expanding our European retail presence and increasing our exposure to a broader portfolio of premium brands.

“We look forward to working with the very experienced and knowledgeable management team in Spain and bringing our own expertise to bear as we continue to develop JD’s presence in Europe. At the same time, the acquisition of the Cecil Gee stores provides us with a low risk springboard for the development of a well funded profitable premium brand fashion chain.”