Jens Høgsted became the new chief executive of Sport-Master this week, replacing Hans-Peter Rasmussen. He will be joined shortly by a new chief financial officer, Chris Bigler, who has held a similar position at IC Companys, the big Danish company that owns many sportswear brands including Peak Performance.
Høgsted, who is 41 years old, has been a management consultant for almost 20 years, advising leading consumer brands and retail chains in Europe. Eleven years ago, he co-founded Qiuartz+Co, described as a leading consultancy in the Nordic countries.
The change of management follows the acquisition one year ago of Sport-Master and its parent company, Sport Danmark, along with 96 percent of the retailers previously affiliated with the cooperative, by Nordic Capital Funds. The cooperative was thus transformed into an integrated retail chain. The Danish Sport-Master has nothing to do with the Russian Sportmaster.
The number of Sport-Master stores has changed little since the takeover. It stands at 115 doors, to which three should be added shortly. Its retail sales increased by 3 percent in 2012 to 1,115 million Danish kroner (€149.5m-$197.2m) and have been relatively stable so far this year.
Rasmussen, who is 53 years old, will continue to act as a member of Sport-Master's board. He will also continue to serve on the board of Sport 2000 International, the retail organization with which the chain is affiliated. He is considering various new job offers, and he will work with other retail chains as a board member or a consultant.
Rasmussen, who previously worked for Intersport and Bilka in Denmark, is credited for accomplishing the financial turnaround of Sport-Master since he came on board in 2015. The company adds that he was instrumental in transforming the company into an integrated retail chain, creating the idea and implementing it. Michael Haaning, chairman of Sport-Master and a principal advisor to Nordic Capital Funds, says the company is already in the process of creating its new platform, but wants to further accelerate this process and make it more effective. Online retailing is one of the projects.
