former type subsidiary defunct industry retail fate bankruptcy founded early 1900s founder jj broughton defunct 1 october 2012 headquarters pemberton near wigan greater manchester united kingdom key people david williams ceo & cfo keith jones chairman products clothing sportswear sports equipment revenue 284.2 million 2011 1 operating income 103.5 million 1 net income 101.1 million 1 website jjb sports online jjb belfast showing the brands final logo and colours . 2010 city centre jjb sports leeds west yorkshire 2010 jjb sports craigavon northern ireland 2009 jjb sports plc stylized as jjb sports was a british sports retailer . on 24 september 2012 shares in jjb sports were suspended and the firm called in administrators . on 1 october 2012 it was announced that sports direct had purchased part of the business including twenty stores the brand and its website for 28.3 million . 2 3 contents 1 corporate history 1.1 2011 major restructuring plan 1.2 administration 1.3 legal issues 2 brands 3 marketing 4 price fixing 5 fitness clubs 6 see also 7 references 8 external links corporate history edit the original jjb sportshop was founded in the early 1900s . it was expanded and incorporated 4 in 1971 4 5 when ex footballer and supermarket chain operator dave whelan 5 acquired a single sports shop in wigan and immediately opened a second sports goods outlet in his sutton st helens supermarket . the original jjb sports store was established by john jarvis broughton in the early 1900s and later was purchased by john joseph bradburn . as these initials were all the same the business was known locally as jjb s. when whelan bought the store from bradburn he kept the jjb name 5 during the early 1990s the store portfolio grew to 120 stores by 1994 at which point the company was floated on the london stock exchange . in 1998 jjb bought its largest domestic competitor sports division . the acquisition made jjb one of the largest sports retailers in the united kingdom focusing on sports clothing rather than sports equipment . it hand got to a sales total of 372.97 million us 636.60 million in 1999 . 4 in october 2002 duncan sharpe chief executive of jjb sports committed suicide . mr sharpe had been with the company for 19 years and was the son in law of the chairman dave whelan . in july 2002 it had also opened an new branch in amsterdam . 6 by 2005 jjb had expanded to over 430 stores throughout the united kingdom 6 and ireland . 6 on 8 june 2007 mr whelan sold his residual 29 % stake in the firm for 190 million to icelandic financial group exista and chris ronnie a sports retailer who previously worked at umbro and sports direct . 6 6 7 on 19 october 2007 jjb bought a 10.1 % stake in umbro in a move to protect its stake in the market for england football shirts . 8 this stake was sold in its entirety to nike in march 2008 . in december 2007 jjb announced that they had purchased the original shoe company for 5 million . jjb considered converting some of the smaller jjb high street stores into osc stores keeping osc as a separate division of the jjb group which would share jjb s buying financing and marketing functions . in september 2008 jjb released a less than impressive set of interim results 9 which included a warning from the auditors raising doubts over jjb s future as a going concern . in october 2008 the value of jjb shares fell to less than 10 % of the value at the time of dave whelan s share sale to chris ronnie and exista . this was partly in response to the interim financial report and also as a result of coface removing credit insurance . this was from debts owed by jjb to their suppliers . 10 three weeks later an 34 % share was purchased by sports direct . on 10 february 2009 jjb put their qube and original shoe company subsidiaries into administration after failing to find a buyer . 11 by the end of the week the group secured a reprieve from its bankers to avoid putting the whole group into administration . 12 on 13 october 2009 jjb admitted that former executives were being investigated by both hm revenue & customs and the serious organised crime agency . 13 2011 major restructuring plan edit jjb was one of many companies that had undergone major restructuring and change due to the recession 14 and faced a 31.5 million debt the closure of 95 stores and a possible hostile takeover by one of its top rivals jd sports as of february 2011 . 15 the firm attempted to raise 65 million in finances from its investors on 7 april 2011 . 16 in february 2011 jjb revealed that as many as 95 of its stores faced closure within the next two years . 17 and hd asked for emergency 31.5 m funding on 11 12 2011 18 administration edit the combined fiscal value of jjb sports shares had totaled 500 million in 2010 but had unpredictably collapsed to only 1.2 million by september 2012 . 6 6 on 24 september 2012 it was reported by the bbc that shares in jjb sports had been suspended and that the firm was calling in the administrators . it was expected that many of the firms 180 stores would close and most of the company s 4 000 employees would be made redundant . 19 it was reported that the bill & melinda gates foundation was to lose millions of dollars from this outcome following its investment in jjb sports in 2009 . 20 on 1 october 2012 it was announced that rival retailer sports direct had purchased the jjb brand name website and 20 stores saving around 550 jobs . however the remaining 130 stores were to close resulting in 2 200 redundancies . 21 jjb sports was officially dissolved with debts of 150 million on 9 november 2012 . 5 22 there were a total of 5 000 employees at its closure . 4 legal issues edit on 13 october 2009 jjb admitted that former executives were being investigated by both hm revenue & customs and the serious organised crime agency . 23 the former boss of both next and jjb sports 24 sir david jones 24 was charged on february 2013 24 over allegations of forgery and making misleading statements to the market while he was executive chairman of jjb sports concerning an earlier 150 million loan . 24 he was the man who turned the clothes retailer next into one of britain s largest retailers . 24 brands edit in an effort to distance themselves from the majority own branded offering of main competitor sports direct jjb s stock package mainly comprised products from the main sportswear suppliers such as nike adidas puma and reebok . however jjb did operate its own brands including patrick menswear and football accessories and olympus womenswear and fitness accessories . marketing edit jjb sports launched their shopping site jjb sports store with a view to expanding their market . the majority shareholder of jjb sports plc was dave whelan but his 99 % stake was sold off . jjb no longer operated the famous soccerdomes nor any gyms or fitness clubs outside ireland . also because of dave whelan s purchase of the fitness club and founding of dw dave whelan sports in september 2009 jjb has lost its association with wigan athletic fc & wigan warriors rlfc . the stadium previously sponsored by the company has also been renamed the dw sports stadium . on 7 september 2011 jjb sports launched a major new marketing campaign entitled ready . the campaign involves prime time television advertising national press coverage in store promotions and online competitions . the ready campaign was jjb sport s first appearance on television for over 4 years and represented the company s desire to become profitable again . price fixing edit in may 2005 jjb sports were fined 8.3 million by the office of fair trading oft for fixing the price of england and manchester united shirts in 2000 and 2001 . 25 which consumer magazine issued proceedings against jjb sports to sue the high street retailer for damages on behalf of consumers who were affected by the price fixing . 26 fitness clubs edit the business operated approximately sixty health & fitness centres all over the united kingdom which became property of dw sports after dave whelan s departure from jjb . jjb also ran health and fitness centres in the republic of ireland which are now operated by sports direct following the liquidation of the company . 27 see also edit irish cup jjb sports irish cup dw stadium jjb stadium oce nico group pro am challenge jjb sports north west challenge references edit a b c annual report 2011 pdf . jjbcorporate.co.uk accessdate 2015 05 06 . over 2 000 jobs to go as jjb stores close sky news 1 october 2012 sports direct thrashes out deal to buy 60 jjb sports stores . guardian uk . 1 october 2012 . retrieved 19 december 2012 . a b c d history of jjb sports plc fundinguniverse . fundinguniverse.com . retrieved 2015 05 06 . a b c d the rise and fall of jjb sports . telegraph.co.uk . retrieved 2015 05 06 . a b c d e f g what went wrong at jjb sports bbc news . bbc.co.uk . retrieved 2015 05 06 . jjb founder david whelan sells up bbc news 8 june 2007 jjb sports acquires 10 % in umbro . bbc news . 19 october 2007 . jjb interim results 2008 pdf . jjbcorporate.co.uk accessdate 2015 05 06 . jjb sports under pressure as insurers pull plug daily telegraph wray richard 10 february 2009 . jjb sports puts fashion stores into administration . london the guardian . retrieved 10 february 2009 . jjb wins stay of execution as stylo folds the independent 14 february 2009 organised crime bureau probes ex jjb directors the times 14 october 2009 jjb finance boss set to quit the sports company wigan today 7 september 2010 wood zoe 11 february 2011 . struggling jjb to close 95 stores and asks for emergency 31.5 m funding . the guardian . london . jjb sports aiming to raise 65m herald scotland 7 april 2011 sports says 95 stores could close in next two years bbc 11 february 2011 zoe wood . struggling jjb to close 95 stores and asks for emergency 31.5 m funding . the guardian . jjb sports prepares for administration . bbc news . bbc . 24 september 2012 . retrieved 24 september 2012 . gates foundation to lose millions in jjb sports investment business journal 24 september 2012 sold jjb sports stores inundated with shoppers . bbc news . 1 october 2012 . retrieved 19 december 2012 . jjb sports collapsed with debts of 150m . telegraph.co.uk . retrieved 2015 05 06 . organised crime bureau probes ex jjb directors the times 14 october 2009 a b c d e former boss of next and jjb sports charged . telegraph.co.uk . retrieved 2015 05 06 . jjb fights on despite cut in replica kit fine the guardian latest news which news . which.co.uk . retrieved 2015 05 06 . britain s sports direct to buy 60 jjb sports stores the independent external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to jjb sports . jjb sports online jjb corporate jjb golf retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title jjb sports & oldid 738327067 categories clothing retailersclothing retailers of the united kingdomcompanies based in wiganretail companies established in 1971retail companies disestablished in 2012price fixing convictionssporting goods retailersdefunct retail companies of the united kingdomcompanies that have entered administration in the united