Russia's biggest sports retailer has finalized the takeover of Go Sport Polska, the Polish subsidiary of the French-based Go Sport Group, the company said in a statement released on Sept. 30. The price of the takeover has been limited to €40 million, according to a Russian information agency, Infoline-Analytics.
Go Sport Polska has been generating an annual turnover of around €60 million. Philippe Favre, president of the French group, said its customers in Poland would benefit from the deal, “taking advantage of new approaches to the build-up of the product ranges and redesigned stores.”
The 34 stores currently operated by Go Sport Polska will continue running under the Go Sport banner for the time being, but they will be renamed as Sportmaster in the future, the company said in the statement. The new range will comprise international brands as well as Sportmaster's own private label products, the company added.
Given the scale of the business, the ample range of own brands and the rather efficient procurement and logistics system of Sportmaster, the chain is expected to successfully compete with major local players like Decathlon in Poland as well as in other markets.
The leading Russian business newspaper, Kommersant, went so far as to indicate that Sportmaster may be interested in doing business in other European countries such as France and Germany, citing an anonymous source close to Sportmaster. Poland would be a testing ground for such a project for the retailer, which has already reached a dominant share of the market in its own country.
Ilya Titarenko, brand distribution director of Sportmaster, commented that the company has no plans at the moment to further expand its presence in Europe by opening stores in France or Germany.
