Intersport Austria said that its retailers’ sales grew by 11 percent in the first six months of the group’s current fiscal year, but cautioned that such an impressive increase stood against those of the previous bad winter season. For the current fiscal year, ending next Aug. 31, the company expects an increase of 5 percent to €690 million. For the 12-month period ended in August 2007, sales were up by 2 percent to €656.3 million in spite of a dramatically bad winter. For the current summer season, Intersport expects to benefit from the Euro 2008, of which Austria is a host. The company has a new director of the marketing division, Matthias Reitshammer, who came from the local retail group Interspar, where he held a similar position.