RETAILER JD Sports Fashion stepped up its expansion with the acquisition of its first stores outside the UK and Ireland.
The company’s breakthrough into France has been achieved through the purchase of Lille-based Chausport, a sports footwear retailer with 78 stores.
JD described the £7m deal as a strategic acquisition in a "new and sizeable European market".
Existing managers will stay with the business. They include chief executive Jerome Lepoutre, who helped found Chausport in 1980.
JD Sports, founded in 1981 with a shop in Bury, has 400 outlets in the UK and Ireland covering sports and branded fashion. In April, it announced a 9% rise in annual pre-tax profits to £38.2m – marking the "fifth successive year of good progress".
