Sonae Group, the Portuguese company that owns the Sport Zone chain and many other specialty chains operating In other sectors, reports a 15 percent drop in net profit to €35 million for the first half of this year on 2 percent lower overall revenues of €2.70 billion. The recurring Ebitda margin fell to 10.6 percent from 10.8 percent in the year-ago period, due especially to lower consumption of non-food items in Portugal and to major investments for the internationalization of the group, including the opening of new Sport Zone stores in Spain. Without breaking down the sales of its various retail chains, the company says the revenues of its specialty retail division, Sonae SR, declined by 1 percent to €551 million, but on a same-store basis they were off by 13 percent. Sonae SR had an operating loss of €11 million in the period, compared with a profit of €7 million a year ago, due in part to expenses related to the opening of ten new specialty stores in Portugal and 22 in Spain.

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