After a difficult first half of the year, Groupe Go Sport enjoyed a slight turnaround in the third quarter in France, where its generalist Go Sport chain and its athletic footwear retail sister, Courir, experienced sales increases of 1.1 and 7.9 percent, respectively, on a same-store basis. In Poland, however, Go Sport suffered a 9.2 percent decline on a comparable basis in the quarter.
Overall, the group’s revenues rose by 1.1 percent to €190.5 million in the quarter, with increases on a reported basis of 0.2 percent for Go Sport France and 4.9 percent for Courir, and with a decline of 5.6 percent for Go Sport in Poland.
Go Sport’s improvement on the French market was particularly significant toward the end of the period. The company said the chain benefited especially from the conversion of several stores to a new layout and from delayed end-of-season sales. Courir, too, performed particularly well in September. Confirming the positive trend of the previous months, it was aided by more intense merchandising and a wider offer of apparel items.
In Poland, where Go Sport benefited from favorable currency exchange translations, the company is now testing out the store concept that it has introduced in France. For the first nine months of the year, its sales in the country were up by 4.3 percent in euros, reaching €12.4 million, although they were down by 6.5 percent on a comparable basis.
Sales were still down in France for the first nine months. They showed a 6.6 percent drop at Go Sport to €348.0 million and a 2.0 percent drop at Courir to €109.4 million. On a comparable store basis, sales declined by 6.7 and 0.9 percent, respectively, at the two chains in France.
As usual, financial results were not given for the quarter. Separately, the group announced the nomination of a new communications director, Laure Labadens. Aged 39, she has been in charge of advertising for Sephora at the European level for the past two years, after stations at Propeller, Ogilvy and YSA. Another new recruit is Valérie Delpech, in charge of merchandising and related operations. She worked previously in Paris and London in various positions for the department stores of Prisunic, Marks & Spencer, Galeries Lafayette and BHV.
