Pentland Group has reported strong overall results for the year ended last Dec. 31. Total revenues went up by 17 percent to £1.523 billion (€1.920bn-$2.359bn). Pre-tax profit rose by 17.5 percent to £114 million (€143.7m-$176.5m). The bottom line improved in spite of an 8.2 percent decline in operating profits to £101 million (€138m-$171m), which the company put down to investments for future growth. It is investing in people, infrastructure and systems. Its SAP platform has been extended worldwide, and the company is now working on its upgrade.

The results were partly boosted by its controlling interest in JD Sports Fashion, whose retail turnover rose by 18 percent to £1.035 billion (€1.305bn-$1.603bn). Adding its own wholesale brands, JD's revenues grew by 19.9 percent to £1.059 billion (€1.335bn-$1.640bn), but its net profit declined by 11.7 percent to £49.4 million (€62.3m-$76.5m).

Pentland also has a diversified portfolio of brands in sports, outdoor and fashion. It owns Speedo, Ellesse, Berghaus, Boxfresh, Mitre, Red or Dead, and others. It also licenses Lacoste and Ted Baker footwear globally, and Kickers in the U.K.

Revenues from these and other businesses besides JD rose by 15 percent to a total of £497 million (€626.5m-$769.7m), mostly fueled by good performances for Speedo, Lacoste footwear and Ted Baker footwear.

Pentland's management is pleased with the evolution of Ellesse, whose sales grew by double digits last year to over $100 million on a wholesale-equivalent basis, thanks in part of exclusive agreements with Go Sport in France, Cisalfa Sport in Italy and USG in the Benelux.

The brand is also going very strong with its licensees in China and Korea. It recently opened a store in Hong Kong and moved into the Philippines. Sales have grown in Spain, but the management sees opportunities for the brand in Germany, where it recently changed licensee.

Berghaus' sales grew last year by a high single digit to the equivalent of more than $150 million, including those of its licensees. Most of the growth continued to take place outside the U.K., whose share of the global turnover has dropped from 80 to about 60 percent in the last years.

In the U.K., Berghaus maintained its leading share of the outdoor market, according to Pentland, but company officials insisted that it is not getting any direct or indirect benefits in its relations with Blacks Leisure Group from the fact that Pentland owns 57 percent of JD Sports Fashion, which bought Blacks earlier this year (more in two other publications of ours, The Outdoor Industry Compass and Shoe Intelligence).