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Sports Direct purchase of 31 JJB stores is cleared by Competition Commission
Archived article dated Tuesday March 16th 2010
Competition Commission says it does not expect the acquisitions to lead to a “substantial lessening” of competition nor any adverse effects for customers.
Chairman of the inquiry group and the commission's deputy chairman, Diana Guy said: “We do not believe there will be higher prices or a reduction in quality and choice for consumers as a result of these store acquisitions.“Sports Direct and JJB are undoubtedly each other's closest competitors nationally and this has not changed as a result of the transfer of a relatively small number of stores.“What we have found is that the prices and range on offer in any individual Sports Direct store are not significantly affected by whether there is a nearby JJB store or not but, rather, depend on the degree of overall competition between the two retailers at the national level.”
The Office of Fair Trading, which referred the case to the commission last August, carried out an initial study which found that the store transfers raised competition concerns in five local areas where Sports Direct already had a store.
Sports Direct had offered to release the stores in these areas to buyers approved by the OFT but was unable to do so in the set timescale.
Tagged as: sports direct
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