Canterbury prospects excite Cowgill
JD SPORTS Fashionsupremo Peter Cowgill says rugby brands Canterbury of New Zealand and KooGa will be run as wholesale operations outside its core retail business.
Mr Cowgill told TheBusinessDesk the £6.5m swoop for the global Canterbury brand from its Kuwaiti owners was an attractive deal for the Bury company: “It’s the major worldwide brand in rugby, and a company that has had considerable money injected into it – something like £50m to support the strength of the brand, and when it became available we thought it should be worth extending our activities there.”
He said the Canterbury business, which is headquartered in Reddish, Stockport, would be run as a stand-alone business although it would benefit from JD’s financial systems and disciplines.
“We are going to operate the business in Europe ourselves, but license the rest.
For the time being it will be run as a separate entity in Reddish.”
He confirmed that JD was in the process of hiring a number of the staff made redundant when Canterbury’s European subsidiary was placed into administration.
“We should have about 50 people there, which is obviously good news for the region.”
Mr Cowgill, who has revived JD’s fortunes over the last four years as his major rivals JJB and Sports Direct have struggled, said the company’s rugby venture was “not associated” with its retail operations “in any way.”
He also ruled out opening stand-alone stores for Canterbury, stating: “I’m not a fan of mono-brand stores,” but added that JD would look to maintain some of the brand’s “high profile” team sponsorship deals. Partners include world champions South Africa and Australia.
