RETAIL giant JJB Sports has announced plans to double the number of health club it operates, as it revealed that a World Cup price war over England replica shirts meant that it made less money from the tournament than it had hoped.

Tom Knight, chief executive of the Wigan company, said a "limited margin" had been achieved during the summer on the iconic England shirt, after stiff competition from privately-owned rival Sports World and from supermarket groups such as Asda.

Mr Knight said health clubs were a major area for growth.

"We have plans in the next two-and-a-half years to double the number of health clubs we operate to over 70. We have 156,000 members at the moment with our 37 health clubs, and we want to get to 300,000."

Turning to the half year results, which showed profits up 0.5 per cent to é18.2m on turnover up 12 per cent to é381.6m, Mr Knight warned that the market remains "very competitive".

He said like-for-like sales in the 11 weeks to Sunday were up 8.8 per cent, boosted by the launch of new kits from Premiership giants Chelsea and Manchester United.

Coffee mugs

He said JJB's agreement with Glasgow Rangers to market everything from kit to coffee mugs was proving profitable, and it had similar arrangements with other soccer clubs, such as Everton, and some rugby clubs. "It's a model we think has got legs," he said.

New deals have been struck with Adidas and Nike, and JJB is keen to focus on its "Serious About Sport" strategy, to separate itself from other retailers and boost margins by improving product quality.

Mr Knight said he was "comfortable" with brokers' predictions for profits for the full year of around é37.5m. "I think we are on the right track, but it is a long road ahead. I am reasonably content with our performance to date and looking forward very much to next year," he added.

The group, which has over 430 stores across the UK selling sports clothing, replica kit, bikes and golf equipment, said it would pay an interim dividend of 3p per share, the same as a year ago.

Shares rose two per cent to 199p on the results. Tweet