Kesko’s sales of sporting goods through its three main specialty channels – Intersport Finland, Kesport and Budget Sport – grew by 4.5 percent in 2006 and reached €257 million after VAT, with increases of 4.5 percent at Intersport and 1.6 percent at Kesport. That doesn’t include sales of sporting goods through Citymarket, a chain of hypermarkets whose sales rose by 5.2 percent to €1,699.6 million, or Anttila, a chain of department stores which had growth of 3.7 percent to €391.3 million.
The Kesko group is one of the biggest all-around retailers in the Nordic countries and in Baltics, also involved in groceries and other consumer goods. It is Adidas’ joint venture partner in Finland. The whole group raised total revenues by 10.4 percent last year to €8,749 million, with a 6.2 percent gain excluding acquisitions and disposals. The consolidated net profit rose to €379.4 million from €189.2 million the year before.
Kesko’s performance in our sector was better than that of the Finnish sporting goods market, where sales of the major chains grew by only 3.7 percent, according to the Finnish sporting goods trade association, after a roaring start in the first half of the year. The biggest gain was recorded in footwear and the smallest one in hardware (more on the Finnish sporting goods market in our Northern European report).
