JJB Sports chairman to stand down

 Struggling retailer JJB Sports has said its chairman is to step down on 31 January because of ill health. Sir David Jones - who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1982 - had overseen the financial rescue of JJB in the past year. JJB also said the rate of decline in its sales had slowed. Same-store sales were down 21% in January from a year ago, against a fall of 37% in August. For the year to 24 January, like-for-like sales were down 28%.

JJB came close to going into administration last year as it struggled with high levels of debt. Concern over its financial position saw suppliers cut back on deliveries. However, since a successful £100m rights issue in October, JJB has been able to pay off its debts, and the firm said on Tuesday that supplies were now getting back to normal.

It now predicts that all its stores will be fully stocked from April. JJB said Sir David would remain at the company as a non-executive director. John Clare, the company's senior independent director, will become acting chairman until a permanent appointment is made. Meanwhile, new chief executive Keith Jones is due to join the firm in March. JJB also announced that Olympic rower Sir Matthew Pinsent would be joining the company as a non-executive director.

Retail analyst Matthew McEachran of Signer Capital Markets, said the firm appeared to have turned the corner. "These figures confirm our original view that progress at JJB was not really possible until the first quarter of 2010, and even then the performance of new ranges is hard to predict," he said. "That said the bulk of the bad news should now be behind us and sales momentum should soon turn into positive territory."

Shares in JJB were down 4.7% at 20.5p in morning trading.