JJB Sports is suffering falling sales as the Euro 2008 football championships are set to begin without the England team.

The absence of a fillip from large numbers of England football shirt sales and bad weather in the 13 weeks to April 27 contributed to a like-for-like sales decline of 5.3 per cent, compared with a 3 per cent fall in the seven weeks to March 16.

Chris Ronnie, chief executive, was able to report a 100 basis point increase in gross margin but the worsening sales trend worried some analysts, who had not forecast such a steep decline.

The company reported a 6.5 per cent like-for-like sales decrease for retail stores but an increase of 5 per cent at its health clubs. Overall revenue fell 8.3 per cent – worse than the like-for-like figure – because of store closures.

Ben Spruntulis, an analyst at Citigroup, said: “Thirteen weeks of reported trading in JJB’s current financial year and macro indicators strongly suggest that this will be another profit down year.”

OFT warning

Sports Direct has promised not to hold “closing down sales” at stores that are not closing down after the retailer was contacted by the Office of Fair Trading, writes Tom Braithwaite.

The sportswear chain, controlled by Mike Ashley, did not admit wrongdoing but gave undertakings that it would not mislead customers in future.

The OFT said it had received complaints some stores advertised “closing down” sales for months and then either closed temporarily or did not close at all.

Mr Ronnie, who owns 29 per cent of the company with Exista, the Icelandic investment group, and was appointed chief executive last year, said he was confident the right strategy was in place.

“It was a very, very tough time on the high street,” he said. “I feel confident about going forward and the strategy, I really do.”

New own-brand sportswear such as Champion helped drive the improvement in gross margin.

Last month, JJB announced plans to close 72 of its 409 stores and cut 800 jobs at a cost of up to £23m after reporting a 29 per cent fall in profit before exceptionals to £33.8m.

Stores retained by JJB are to be refurbished after Roger Lane-Smith, chairman, described some of them as being “like a third-world country”.

Mr Ronnie has been behind an aggressive clearance sale, including discounts of up to 90 per cent, as he attempts to move a backlog of old stock.

Shares in JJB fell 3p to 124¼p.