JJB Sports faces further uncertainty after the UK’s largest credit insurer Coface decided to pull the cover for its suppliers.

The withdrawal – reported in The Sunday Telegraph – will be another bitter blow for the sports retailer, which has faced plummeting sales and a “going concern” warning from its auditors.

Following JJB’s interim results at the end of last month, in which it announced a pre-tax loss of£9.7 million, shares in the retailer fell more than 50 per cent.

At the company’s results, JJB chairman Roger Lane-Smith said: “My non-executive board colleague David Jones – formerly chairman and chief executive of Next – has described the current climate as ‘the worst retail recession I have ever known’. I can only say that David’s statement is borne out by our trading results.”

The retailer’s auditors report also highlighted a dispute between JJB and HBOS, in which the bank claimed JJB had breached its banking covenants. This was strenuously denied by JJB, which has subsequently reached a new repayment deal with the Bank of Scotland.

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