Full-year LFL sales fall 13.1pc at JJB

High street sports retailer JJB Sports has seen like-for-like (LFL) sales slump during January with total second half LFL sales falling by 7.6% despite strong trading over Christmas.

LFL sales for the five weeks ended January 29th 2012 fell by 5.7%, compared with the 5% growth in the four weeks to December 26th.

As such, LFL sales for the second half altogether fell by 7.6%, but was an improvement on the 17.9% decrease in the first half. Full-year LFL sales were 13.1% down.

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The cash gross margin rose by 0.3% in the second half, compared with the 37.4% fall in the first half. The full-year LFL cash gross margin fell by 22%.

"Since our Christmas trading update our like for like cash margins have continued to improve and our full year trading performance is broadly in line with our expectations in the face of an extremely challenging consumer environment," said Chief Executive Officer Keith Jones.

He said that while UK employment and ongoing credit squeeze continues to create a tough environment for consumers, "we are continuing to implement our turnaround aware of the importance of the key trading opportunities afforded by the European football championships and London Olympics."

BC