England-based JD Sports Fashion Plc entered the U.S. market in June with its $558 million acquisition of Indianapolis-based Finish Line and says it likes what it sees so far.
The outcome of the test will help determine whether all Finish Line outposts will take on the JD Sports moniker and product mix.
Buyer JD Sports Fashion, the leading European retailer of sports, fashion and outdoor brands, plans to retain Finish Line management and use the company as its platform for North American expansion.
A new regulatory said Sports Direct International Inc., the United Kingdom-based sports-apparel retailer that was rumored for months to be on the verge of buying Indianapolis-based Finish Line, never actually wanted to buy the company.
Shares in Finish Line Inc.—which this week agreed to be acquired by British retailer JD Sports Fashion Plc for $558 million—tumbled Thursday morning after the Indianapolis-based retailer reported a sharp quarterly decline in same-store sales.
Combining Indianapolis-based Finish Line Inc. and JD Sports Fashion from across the pond could create a firm within striding distance of the sports apparel industry’s heavyweight, according to an analyst.
The purchaser is not Sports Direct International, a United Kingdom-based firm that began buying up Finish Line shares last year, but rather its top rival, JD Sports.
Deep discounting has become rampant in the athletic shoe and apparel industry—a reality that's weighing on the results of the Indianapolis-based chain.
Sports Direct International again has increased its holdings in the Indianapolis-based athletic shoe and apparel retailer.
The Finish Line Inc. is highly vulnerable to being acquired, retail analysts say, thanks to a succession of challenges hitting it all at once.
Shares in Finish Line Inc. surged late Thursday after the New York Post reported the Indianapolis-based retailer was nearing a deal to be acquired by United Kingdom-based Sports Direct International.
The Indianapolis-based athletic footwear and apparel retailer also made changes to its board and executive ranks.
Stock in Finish Line Inc. rose 6.5 percent Wednesday after an analyst at Susquehanna Financial said he believes a buyout of the Indianapolis-based retailer is likely.
A veteran retail analyst said Nike, Finish Line's biggest vendor by far, has demonstrated "little to no material innovation" in more than two years.
Finish Line adopted the shareholder-rights plan, also known as a poison pill, after a British retailer acquired a substantial stake in the Indianapolis-based company.
Mike Ashley, the billionaire owner of Sports Direct International—which owns a major stake in Indianapolis-based retailer The Finish Line Inc.—said a former employee’s claim that he made a $19 million bonus deal while in a London pub was “nonsense.”
Sports Direct International now controls nearly 8 million Finish Line shares worth about $107 million, raising speculation about a possible takeover of the Indianapolis-based retailer.
Sports Direct International pl, which now holds a 7.9 percent stake worth $47 million in Indianapolis-based Finish Line, isn't commenting on its intentions.
The locally based retailer of athletic apparel and footwear lost $9.5 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, falling short of earnings expectations and sending company shares tumbling in morning trading.
The Indianapolis-based retailer plans to take a pretax charge of as much as $36 million in connection with the sale of the money-losing business to a Los Angeles-based investment firm.
