Sports Authority bankruptcy spells bad news for Under Armour

Under Armour, the rising star in the sporting equipment’s manufacturing world, has altered its full-year forecast after one of its major customers, store chain Sports Authority, went bankrupt. 

Huge surprise

Under Armour lowered its turnover forecast for its current fiscal year, from 5 billion to 4.93 billion dollars (some 4.4 billion euro), which is a huge surprise as the group was growing tremendously over the past few years.

The turnover alert is fallout from Sports Authority’s bankruptcy. The major American sports store chain filed for Chapter 11 in March, receiving protection from its debtors. The goal was to relaunch the group, with a 3 billion dollar turnover in 2015, with 323 stores which meant it would have to sell or close 140 stores.

However, that plan failed to materialize and now all stores will shut down. Sports Authority acknowledged it missed the eCommerce hype and was unable to catch up anymore.

“Although Sports Authority’s bankruptcy influences our 2016 forecast, our brand’s momentum has never been stronger”, Under Amour CEO, Kevin Plank, maintains.