JD Sports, Footasylum fined nearly £4m for sharing sensitive information

The merger could lead to less choice and a worse deal for customers, according to the Competition and Markets Authority CMA.

JD Sports and Footasylum were fined almost 4.7 m by the CMA for sharing sensitive information during its investigation. Peter Cowgill, the head of JD Sports, resigned from the company in May after the fine.

In July 2021, Cowgill was filmed meeting his counterpart at Footasylum Barry Brown in a car park near Bury in Greater Manchester, first revealed by a report in the Sunday Times.

The CMA found that the two bosses exchanged sensitive information and failed to alert the regulators during two meetings on July 5 and August 4th, 2021.

It said neither men could provide documentation about the meetings, with no notes, no agendas, poor phone records and no emails. Some of which were deleted before they could be given to the CMA JD. It has around 3,400 stores in 29 countries, including 700 in the UK and Ireland, selling brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma.

Announcing the merger in 2019 JD said the two businesses would complement each other because the target audience is slightly younger than Footasylum's focus on 16 to 24 year-olds.