New store opening have boosted turnover to more than £230m at GO Outdoors, the retailer of equipment for hiking, mountaineering and camping enthusiasts, in the year following its acquisition by JD Sports.
Headquartered in Sheffield, Go Outdoors is a nationwide retailer catering outdoor enthusiasts and specialists with 58 stores across the UK at acquisition, the majority of which are situated in out of town retail parks.
Listed fashion retailer JD Sports snapped up the Sheffield-headquartered chain for £112.3m in cash from its former private equity owners YFM Equity Partners and 3i Group in November 2016. The Competition and Markets Authority cleared the deal in 2017. Recently filed accounts show GO Outdoors Ltd reported turnover of £232.5m for the 53 week period ended 3 February 2018, up from £213.8m in 2016/17. Pre-tax profit increased to £9m from £1m the previous year, with EBITDA, before exceptional items, also up to £15.7m from £14m. The company put the 8.7 per cent rise in sales down to investment in new stores and growth from existing stores.
During the year, two large format GO Outdoors stores were opened in Ipswich and Tonbridge. During 2018, the retailer has also opened new outlets in Preston and Reading. In their report accompanying the accounts, the directors said: “The directors plan further growth and expansion of both the store network and the proposition via development of its ranging and further multi-channel infrastructure. The increased and more flexible resources available as a result of being part of a larger retail group, including other retail fascias in the outdoors sector is expected to realise benefits in both the customer offer and the financial results.
“Within the next year, it is our intention to transfer the company’s stock into a dedicated JD warehouse and leverage off their existing infrastructure. This will allow us to increase the frequency of deliveries to our stores, providing improved availability of products to our customers.”
