Sales at Intersport Finland shrank by 4.5 percent to €46 million for the third quarter, according to the quarterly results released by Kesko, the large Finnish retail group that owns the Intersport license in Finland and Russia. For the first nine months of the year, sales for Intersport Finland were still up by 2.3 percent to €128 million, although the number of stores declined by one to 61 at the end of September. The number of Budget Sport stores remained unchanged at 11 and Mikko Helander, Kesko's chief executive, said that their sales had increased markedly in the quarter. Intersport has been under pressure from the expansion of XXL in Finland as well as retail trends that have been negative since the middle of last year. Intersport's sales in Russia tumbled by 9.7 percent to just €3 million for the quarter and Intersport was left with 17 stores in the country, down from 19, despite the opening of an Intersport Run & Fit store in Saint Petersburg. Intersport's sales in Russia shrank by 18.4 percent to €9 million for the first nine months of the year, affected by these store closures as well as currency exchange rates. The Kesko group as a whole saw its sales decline by 4.4 percent to €2,203 million but they inched up by 1.2 percent without divestments and in constant currencies. Operating profits before one-off items slipped by 1.8 percent to €82.5 million.

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