JD Sports sells rugby brand for £1

RETAILER JD Sports has sold Scotland rugby kit supplier Canterbury to its largest shareholder, Pentland, for £1. In exchange, the Liverpool-based sportswear company will take on the sports brand’s £22.7 million debt and has handed its “anti-fashion” brand ONETrueSaxon to JD for £50,000.

JD acquired Canterbury, which recently became the official kit partner to the English Rugby Football Union, out of administration in 2009

Strong sales in New Zealand and Australia during the Rugby World Cup recently helped Canterbury to annual operating profits of £400,000, but it was dragged to a bottom-line loss by fashionwear in the US and Europe.

Pentland owns a 57 per cent stake in JD and also owns the Berghaus and Ellesse brands.