Sports Direct profits and cash up, but still no dividend

Sports Direct, the high street retailer, increased its pre-tax profits by 24.5 per cent in the year ended April 29th after revenues were pushed higher by buoyant online sales.

The strong online performance as well as record revenues and growth across all divisions boosted revenues from £1.6bn in the 52 weeks ended April 24th 2011 to £1.8bn in the 53 weeks ended April 29th 2012, helping to increase pre-tax profit for the year to £151.5m (2011: £118.8m).

The cost of sales rose slightly year-on-year (y/y) from £830.3m to £976.4m, while gross profit came in at £663.5m (2011: £581.2m). Earnings per share climbed from 14.80p to 18.68p y/y.

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Cash including overdrafts at the end of the period rose from £49.4m to £69.4m. Despite this, the company has opted not to reinstate the dividend as it has a number of investment opportunities under review.

Net debt fell from £148.9m to £145.2m.

Revenues in the Retail division rose 14%, while UK Sports Retail sales were up 7.9% to £1,342m (2011: £1,245m).

Dave Forsey, Chief Executive, said: "I am pleased to be able to report another year of strong profit growth for Sports Direct, in a consumer environment that remains very tough. Trading since the period end has remained in line with management's expectations where increased investment in margin has been funded by stronger retail sales.

"In spite of the low expectations surrounding England's participation in Euro 2012 and the unseasonal weather our core divisions are performing well. Excitement is building towards the Olympics and we continue to target our 2013 "super stretch" underlying EBITDA objective of £270m (before the charge for the bonus share schemes).

"We have established a strong online presence, delivering rapid growth in the Year. Critically, our online sales benefit from our UK market leading position on the high street and from our established systems and processes, while our retail stores continue to perform strongly."

The share price rose 0.24% to 295.40p by 10:45.

NR