JD Sports is a nationwide retail giant with a history stretching back 40 years.
The Bury-headquartered group employs around 54,000 people and its shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange.
As well as shops across the 海角视频, it also has sites in the US, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.
In its most recent full-year financial accounts, the group reported a revenue of £6.1bn and pre-tax profits of £421.3m.
But how much do you know about one of the largest companies headquartered in the North West?
Below, BusinessLive tells you all you need to know:
The early years
The company opened its first shop in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1981.
Most Read
Named JD Sports, the letters stand for the initials of the founders of the company, John Wardle and David. Makin.
In 1983, the company opened a store in the Arndale Centre in Manchester, followed by another one in Oxford Street, London, in 1989.
The business floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 as JD Sports Fashion plc.
Don't miss a thing - sign up for your free North West newsletter - and follow us on LinkedIn
Email newsletters
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
For all the latest stories, views, polls and more - and the news as it breaks - .
In December 2001 it acquired 209 further stores with the acquisition of First Sport from Blacks Leisure Group.
In October 2005 it bought 70 stores from the administrators of Allsports, who entered had administration a month earlier.
Later that year, a controlling stake of 57.5% was acquired by Pentland Group, the sports clothing giant behind brands such as Speedo and Canderbury.
Don’t miss
The move saw the founders exit the board after selling their shares for £44.6m.
On the acquisition trail
Four years later JD Sports acquired Chausport, a French sports retailer. The deal was the group's first international presence and entry into Europe.
That led to it opening its first JD in Lille, France, its first store in Europe, in 2010.
In 2011 the group acquired Sprinter, a Spanish sports retailer, specialising in footwear, apparel and equipment, before it expanded into the outdoor market with Blacks and Millets joining the group in 2012 for £20m out of administration.
By that point JD Sports had already acquired acquired Champion Sports for €19.6M and acquired streetwear clothing brand FLY53 for an undisclosed sum.
The same year JD Sports bought a 40% stake in fashion retailer Tessuti, before acquiring the brand in full in 2016.
In February 2013, it purchased Cloggs, a shoe retailer, out of administration, however closed it in 2018.
Latest Greater Manchester Business News
In September 2016 it acquired the Clothingsites.co.uk group and bought Go Outdoors for £112m in the November of that year.
It then acquired an 80% stake in the Australian retailer Next Athleisure for A$6.6m.
The next year JD Sports acquired Hot-T, a South Korean retailer of sports branded footwear and in March 2018 it reached a deal to acquire Finish Line for $558m.
In 2020 it acquired Shoe Palace, a retailer of branded sports footwear and apparel based on the West Coast of the US for $325m.
In 2021 the group acquired DTLR, a retailer of athletic footwear and apparel streetwear based in Maryland, US.
In the same year it announced a deal to acquire 60% of £200m-turnover European retail giant Marketing Investment Group S.A.
The group's brands
The group's brands currently include:
- JD
- Size?
- Footpatrol
- Finish Line
- Shop Palace
- DTLR Villa
- Livestock
- Sprinter
- Sport Zone
- Perry
- Chausport
- Sizeer
- JD Gyms
- Tessuti
- Scotts
- Mainline
The board
The board is headed up by Peter Cowgill who serves as executive chairman.
He has been in his role since March 2004 and was previously finance director of the group until his resignation in June 2001.
He is also currently the non-executive chairman of United Carpets, Quiz and Roxor Group.
The group's chief financial officer is Neil Greenhalgh who joined in June 2004 and took up his current job in November 2018.
He has previously held a number of senior positions within the Woolworths Group.
The group's four non-executive directors are Heather Jackson, Kath Smith, Andy Long and Bert Hoyt.
Footaylum
JD Sports has been attempting to complete its £90m acquisition of Footaslym since the deal was first announced in early 2019.
The process took another serious blow recently when the Competition and Markets Authority said the deal could "lead to a worse deal for shoppers".
The concerns were made public after the CMA blocked the deal in 2020 but was forced to reassess its decision following an appeal from the sportswear giant.
Have you followed our yet? Click for the latest updates, stories and analysis from across the region.
The CMA said it believes a merger between the retailers could see customers facing "higher prices, fewer discounts and less choice of products in store" due to reduced competition.
It added that there were fears the move could also result in the group "investing less in improvements to customer service".
However JD Sports responded that clearance for the takeover would allow it to invest in Footasylum and "work with its management team to increase the quality, range and choice of products available to its consumers which will bring wider benefits to a 海角视频 high street decimated by a number of high-profile closures".