It is expected that Forzani Group, the Canadian licensee of Intersport International, will take over the Canadian Athletes World chain of athletic footwear stores as of next Wednesday. The price of the transaction could not be determined, but Forzani will have to negotiate a settlement with the creditors of Athletes World in order to get the company out of its current insolvency proceedings, which began at the end of October.
In its most recent fiscal year, Athlete’s World generated C$186 million (€126.9m-$188.4m) in turnover, down 12 percent compared with the previous year, and its net losses increased by 32 percent to C$7,411,000 (€5.1m-$7.5m). At the end of that financial year, Athlete’s World had total liabilities of C$189.4 million (€129.3m-$191.9m), including secured debt of C$21.3 million (€14.5m-$21.6m), unsecured trade payables of C$16 million (€10.9m-$16.2m) and approximately C$115 million (€78.5m-$116.5m) owed to Bata under an unsecured shareholder plan.
A Canadian court endorsed last Friday a proposal by Bata to sell the chain to Forzani rather than to another Canadian retail company owned by Michel Gold that operates more than 600 apparel shops in the country under such banners as Bluenotes and Suzy Shier. With its 138 stores in Canada, Athletes World has been struggling in the face of fierce competition from bigger chains such Foot Locker Canada and Forzani’s own Sport Chek chain. Bata was going to sell the chain to Gold a few months ago, before the current insolvency proceedings, but the deal fell apart last March due to uncertainty over certain tax liabilities.
Founded 30 years ago, Athletes World had become the only remaining retail business in Canada for the Bata shoe empire, whose head office moved about four years ago from Toronto to Lausanne. Bata shut down its last regular Bata stores in Canada two years ago and then decided to stop selling sports shoes and apparel in Canada and to focus on its core footwear businesses in Europe, Far East and South America.
Bata officials in Europe indicate that group’s Italian subsidiary will continue to operate its 50-plus company-owned and franchised Athletes World stores in the country, which are doing well. Bata was operating a few Athletes World stores also in France and Switzerland, but they were shut down some time ago.
