JD Sports buys footwear brand from administrators

RETAILER JD Sports has bought the Nanny State brand of canvas footwear shoes from the administrators of shoemaker DR Shoes, which was based at Hixon in Staffordshire.

The Bury-based firm has paid an undisclosed sum for the brand to joint administrators from the Birmingham office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. The deal also involves the transfer of DR Shoes’ remaining operations to its Bury headquarters, with founder Darren Roe being retained as a consultant.

The brand is one of a number that JD Sports has acquired over the past 14 months. Last year, it also bought the business and assets of the Canterbury rugby union brand in two separate deals.

It initially bought out its Stockport-based European arm for £6.5m in August last year from administrators KPMG before acquiring the Australian and New Zealand businesses which owned the global brands for £1.6m from Ross Munro in December. It also bought a half-share of the Kooga rugby brand from rival JD Sports last July.