Der Standard, an Austrian newspaper, reports that Intersport Austria has taken over large selling surfaces from Sports Direct International (SDI) in the country. The report says that the British retailer intends to close down all of its unprofitable stores in Austria, and to keep just 20 of them. When SDI announced its move into Austria in 2013, there were 29 Sport Eybl and 26 Sports Experts outlets. Mathias Boenke, chief executive at Intersport Austria for the last three years, was quoted as saying that about €60 million were invested in 30 new Intersport stores in Austria in the last three years. Seven to ten stores are to open before the end of the year, two of them in shopping malls in Vienna. He added that nearly all of the affiliated retailers are making money, and that their profitability has tripled since 2014. The buying group itself has returned to profit as well and Boenke anticipates an increase in profits for the current fiscal year. Der Standard reports that other stores divested by Sports Direct in Austria were taken over by XXL, Decathlon and Hervis.

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