JJB struggling with stock issues
Sports retailer JJB has today announced difficulty with stock is holding up the business in the short to medium term. Despite the fact that the company was effectively bailed-out by a financial restructuring and an agreement with shop landlord last month, the company has announced that while suppliers have agreed to work with JJB in the future it will not be until the first quarter of 2010 before the shops are fully stocked.
As a consequence, like-for-like sales in the 20 weeks to mid-December were down 29% and the company is obviously struggling to give customers what they want at this time of year. The situation is slightly complicated by the fact JJB started its Christmas sale on 25 November last year but this year it will not begin until 26 December.
While these figures are obviously disappointing, there was no mention of any further immediate financial issues although trading is "difficult". The £100 million fund-raising exercise last month has strengthened the balance sheet and we will only see the real benefit as and when the shops are fully stocked. Whether this situation will be replicated across the sports retail sector, and the retail sector in general, remains to be seen.
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