Sports Direct International (SDI) is reportedly closing down the Eybl store in the Plus City shopping center of Pasching in Austria. It should be shuttered at the end of June and taken over by XXL Sports & Outdoor, the Norwegian sports retailer, for a store opening in the spring of 2018. The Pasching store was the last of the outlets trading with the Eybl name after SDI's acquisition of Sport Eybl/Sports Experts in 2014. Employing about 60 people, it was a former Eybl flagship store. After several trials, the other Austrian and German stores acquired by SDI were renamed Sports Direct or Lillywhites. Nachrichten.at reports that the turnover of SDI's Austrian-based business shrank by another 27 percent to €138.5 million for the fiscal year to the end of April 2016, while suffering a loss of €44.4 million. This comes after another loss of about €45 million the previous year. The company closed down four stores by the end the fiscal year leaving 41 in Austria, and it manages another three in Germany. As described by Nachrichten.at, the report filed by the company states that the decline was due to changes in assortment as Austrian stores switched to the Sports Direct concept, as well as weak sales over the holiday season and negative media reports. It adds that the SDI group provided guarantees for the continuation of the business last month. In the fiscal year to April 24, 2016, SDI reported a goodwill impairment relating to its Austrian stores.

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