Sports Direct International Plc Update on Heatons Transaction (7043B)
October 08 2015 - 9:03AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMSPD
RNS Number : 7043B
Sports Direct International Plc
08 October 2015
8 October 2015
Sports Direct International plc
Update on Sports Direct plans for transformative offer for
Warrnambool ("Heatons")
Sports Direct International plc ("Sports Direct" or the
"Group"), one of Europe's leading sports retailers, is pleased to
provide an update and clarification on its proposed acquisition of
Heatons, announced on 7 October 2015.
Sports Direct confirms it expects to complete the acquisition of
the shares of Heatons it does not already own by April 2016,
subject to competition clearance.
Sports Direct already owns 50% of Heatons and will spend a total
of EUR47.5 million to acquire the rest giving the business an
imputed value of EUR95 million.
For clarity, once the transaction is complete, any incremental
EBITDA from Heatons will not count towards the Group's revised FY16
target of GBP420m.
Sports Direct plans a substantial multi-million investment in
the Heatons store portfolio over the first years of full ownership.
Heatons has 44 stores in the Republic of Ireland and 15 in Northern
Ireland. Of these, 37 operate a sports department but only five of
the stores is a standalone sports offering. The sports offering,
while competitive, can be improved significantly.
Dave Forsey, Chief Executive of Sports Direct, said:
"With a couple of years of continuous investment and by allying
the stores to our other Sports Retail operations, I think we will
see this is an exceptional acquisition for our shareholders. The
Republic of Ireland is the fastest growing economy in Europe, our
closest neighbour, the only country with a land border with the UK
and is a nation of sport fanatics. Our unique offering, when fully
available, will be transformative. The Irish retail sector grew
9.3% last year with clothing and footwear growing at 12.8%,
according to the Central Statistics Office, so it is a great place
to be."
For further information, please contact:
Sports Direct International T. 0344 245 9200
plc
Dave Forsey, Chief Executive
Officer
Matt Pearson, Acting
Chief Financial Officer
Powerscourt T. 0207 250 1446
Rory Godson
Nick Brown
Notes to Editors
Sports Direct is the UK's leading sports retailer by revenue and
operating profit, with approximately 400 stores across the UK. The
Group provides an unrivalled range of products, offering
exceptional quality and unbeatable value, from a wide variety of
third-party and Group-owned brands, both in-store and online.
Sports Direct now operates in 20 countries in Europe.
For more information please visit: www.sportsdirectplc.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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