The Austrian retailers affiliated with Intersport Austria as well as their sub-licensed retail partners in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary managed to counter-balance a bad winter season with good sales in the summer. In the group’s fiscal year 2006/07, ended last Aug. 31, these 140 dealers reached retail sales of €656.3 million. The 251 stores in Austria, excluding the chain Sports Experts, raised their sales by 4.9 percent to €474.8 million while the 35 outlets in the three Eastern European countries gained ground by 23 percent to reach a level of €52.2 million.
The increases were a combination of gains on a comparable store basis and new openings, which will be followed by many others. In Austria, six new stores were opened during the financial year, with five more to go until the end of 2007. In the other three countries supervised by Intersport Austria, 15 stores joined the network and seven more will follow by the end of 2007.
According to Intersport, its affiliated Austrian retailers came out a difficult winter season with a minus not higher than 1 percent. They recorded gains of more than 20 percent in several segments including bicycles, running, fitness and outdoor, offsetting a drop of 20 percent in winter sports equipment. They suffered declines of 10 percent for alpine skis, -37 percent for cross-country and -8 percent for snowboards.
In the Czech Republic, Intersport Austria has just acquired 100 percent of the shares of its major local retail partner, Sport Centrum Drapa. The Austrians previously held 76 percent of the firm, which operates 15 Intersport outlets in the country. Intersport Austria itself directly operates three corporate stores in Slovakia. With 24 stores at the end of the last financial year, the entire Czech business generated turnover of €36.4 million. In Slovakia, the revenues of the six existing stores were at €11.4 million. A new store will merge in Slovakia this month, and three more in 2008. In Hungary, which generated turnover of €4.7 million, Intersport has six stores plus a new one to be opened in Budapest this month and two more due to follow before the end of 2007. Five additional Hungarian outlets are expected to be established in 2008.
