Sport Zone suffered a decline in comparable sales last year, as reported by the Sonae Group. This Portuguese conglomerate was previously the full owner of Sport Zone, but last year it agreed to fold this interest into the Iberian Sports Retail Group (ISRG), in which the JD Sports Fashion group owns a tiny majority stake. The Sports & Fashion entity of the Sonae group, which includes Sport Zone as well as Salsa, Losan and MO, saw its sales increase by 11.7 percent to €589 million in 2017, while its underlying Ebitda soared by €12 million to €20 million. The Sonae group reports that sales of the entity were pushed by the consolidation of Salsa and the contribution of other parts of the business. Comparable sales were down by 2.1 percent, as all entities in the Sports & Fashion division had positive comparable figures, apart from Sport Zone. It declined to provide more specifics on the performance of Sport Zone alone – compared with the sales of €226.7 million generated Sport Zone stores in Portugal and Spain in 2016, as reported as part of the documents around the ISRG transaction. In its comments on its annual results, Sonae adds that 2018 will be the year to consolidate the ISRG joint venture and to strive for expansion of the business. When Sonae's quarterly results come out in May, it should become clear in what way it intends to report its interest in ISRG. Under the deal finalized at the end of January, the Sonae group was to own 30 percent less one share in the retail group, the second-largest in Iberia with sales of about €450 million. The Sonae group raised its sales by 7.1 percent to €5,710 million and its underlying Ebitda moved up by 6.9 percent to €336 million.

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