Decathlon UK Delivers Strong Performance Driven by Price Investments and Portfolio Optimisation

June 16, 2026

London, UK — Decathlon UK today announces its strategic report for the financial year ending 31st December 2025 alongside an overview of its performance for the first five months of 2026.

Following a pivotal period of structural transformation, the company’s strategic decisions have delivered sustained revenue growth, enhanced digital capability, and significant progress across human and operational performance metrics.

1. 2025 Financial Performance and Strategic Overview

The 2025 financial year demonstrated the clear effectiveness of the modernisation and commercial strategies on key sports and sport price accessibility initiated in previous years. Decathlon UK achieved a robust financial performance with total turnover growing by 9.6% to £285.5 million (up from £260.6 million in FY2024), building on the double-digit revenue momentum established in late 2024. The recovery was anchored by an exceptional 28.3% expansion in online revenue and a strong market outperformance against persistent UK retail headwinds.

A central driver of this performance was a strong, customer-centric value proposition. In response to persistent economic pressures on households, Decathlon UK intentionally lowered prices on key product models, resulting in an overall deflation of -6% on prices for comparable models across the year. This strategy successfully enhanced value perception and stimulated volume growth, aligning directly with the company’s core purpose to make sport more accessible to everyone.

Key Financial Highlights (FY2025 vs. FY2024)

Total Turnover: £285,511k (compared to £260,618k in 2024), representing a robust +9.6% growth.
Online Channel Turnover: £85,038k (compared to £66,264k in 2024), a surge of +28.3%.
OPEX rate (administrative expenses / Turnover): 3.88% from 4.47% in 2024.
Operating Loss Reduction: Significantly narrowed down to £4,210k (an improvement from a loss of £16,695k in FY2024).

Store Portfolio Optimisation & Omnichannel Hubs

In tandem with its pricing strategy, Decathlon UK continued to actively optimise its commercial footprint to meet modern retail behaviours and ensure maximum convenience for every member of the family. In line with structural provisions and strict operational standards established in 2024, the company executed the planned closure of 6 underperforming stores since late 2024. This disciplined portfolio management has successfully removed negative contributions, protected gross margins, and allowed capital to be redirected toward high-potential omni-channel channels.

Throughout 2025, Decathlon UK focused on upgrading its infrastructure to cater effortlessly to the entire sporting community. For families and regulars, investments were directed into enhancing delivery and click-and-collect speeds, broadening nationwide home delivery options, and making online ordering frictionless to support their everyday shopping journeys with beloved brands like Quechua. Simultaneously, existing brick-and-mortar spaces were modernised into efficient sporting hubs featuring technical advancements. This balanced approach ensured that whether a customer was a parent buying a child's first bicycle or an athlete seeking high-performance innovation from Kiprun or Van Rysel, Decathlon UK delivered unbeatable value for money.

Human Performance & Culture

Decathlon UK’s strong financial trajectory remains deeply intertwined with its focus on human performance, teammate fulfilment, and progressive sustainability initiatives.

Teammate Satisfaction: The company’s latest internal surveys confirm that "Pleasure at Work" scores have sustained their record-breaking 92.3% level, indicating a highly motivated and aligned workforce that places Decathlon UK significantly ahead of global retail industry benchmarks for happiness at work.
Diversity & Inclusion: Internal feedback frameworks were broadened significantly to champion psychological safety, alongside dedicated leadership training sessions, highlighted by the "Women in Leadership" programme completed for 22 fast-track teammates.

Action for the Planet: Scaling Circularity & Climate Progress

True to its core purpose, Decathlon UK transformed its environmental commitments into operational maturity during 2025 through key corporate and grassroots sustainability initiatives:

Circular Economy Scale: Decathlon UK delivered over 130,000 circular services, scaling up its nationwide Buyback programme and industrialising its repair workshops to allow customers to buy, sell, repair, and maintain equipment. High-visibility waste-reduction campaigns like "No Tent Left Behind" further solidified practical, sustainable consumer solutions for major outdoor events.
Carbon Reduction Performance: On the ground, Decathlon UK lowered its total location-based greenhouse gas emissions to 1,624 tCO2e - marking a 45% absolute reduction against the company's 2019 baseline, while maintaining its 100% REGO-backed renewable green energy profile across all stores and warehouses.
Grassroots Environmental Partnerships: Driven via collaborations rather than internal resources alone, Decathlon UK partnered with Paddle UK on the Big Paddle Clean Up and extended its Charity of the Year programme to include Planet Patrol. Combining movement with citizen science to successfully remove over 25,000 pieces of litter from UK waterways and environments.

Local Community Impact & Grassroots Sports Accessibility

In tandem with its environmental efforts, Decathlon UK significantly deepened its charitable and social footprint across British communities to champion active, healthy lifestyles at a local level:

Grassroots Participation: To get the UK moving, low-to-no-cost sports events welcomed over 15,000 participants nationwide. Central to this were Decathlon UK's in-house Run-Days and Play-Days initiatives, alongside a nationwide collaboration with ParkPlay - providing free, active, and inclusive outdoor games, equipment and activities for families and local communities in parks every Saturday morning.
Charitable Giving: Decathlon UK amplified its corporate citizenship throughout the year, successfully raising over £50,000 for critical community health and environmental projects.

2. 2026 Year-to-Date (YTD) Performance & Perspectives

Performance data for the first five months of 2026 (YTD M5) and the Year-to-Go (YTG) outlook confirm that Decathlon UK is on a highly sustainable growth path, significantly outperforming the broader retail market.

Omni-channel Turnover: +12% growth across all channels.
In-Store Sales (Like-for-Like): +3.83% sales growth.
Online and Marketplace Channels: +25% growth.

Accelerating the Price Strategy

To lock in this growth and deepen its market position, Decathlon UK has expanded its pricing initiatives into 2026. Year-to-date, the company has implemented an additional -5% price reduction on comparable models to continue protecting consumer budgets.

Future Format & The Croydon Relocation

Looking ahead at the remainder of 2026, portfolio agility remains a strategic priority. Following the store optimisation framework, Decathlon UK successfully executed a major relocation of its Croydon store into an innovative space within IKEA. This strategic move was designed to leverage high-footfall synergy, optimise square-footage efficiency, and deliver an innovative, modernised shopping experience to South London consumers. With a -60% reduction in sales surface area compared to the previous legacy store, the highly efficient model successfully proposes 90% of models across our customers' favourite sports.

Franck LADEN, Chief Finance Officer, Director Statement: “Our FY2025 performance confirms that we have successfully pivoted from a transformation phase into an expansion phase. By taking calculated risks with our volume-led 'Price Drop' strategy, re-organising our support functions and rolling out our new store model in Croydon, we have broken away from standard retail stagnation. Backed by a massive capital recapitalisation of £83 million executed on January 1, 2026, our balance sheet is entirely re-energised to take market share and deliver sustainable growth throughout 2026.”

Elena PECOS, Chief Executive Officer, Decathlon UK & Ireland Statement: “Our latest annual results clearly reflect the strategic progress we have been driving over the past year. Every operational change has been made with a single purpose: to build an efficient business model so we can reinvest directly into bringing people together through sport and making well-being accessible across the market.

Our strong revenue growth proves that British consumers are responding exceptionally well to our renewed brand position and our commitment to value. Looking ahead, we will continue to build on this great momentum, pushing boundaries to ensure that whether we are supporting regular families or equipping expert athletes, well-being is firmly within reach for everyone in the UK.”

ABOUT DECATHLON

A global multi-specialist sports brand catering to beginners and top athletes, Decathlon is an innovative maker of sporting goods for all skills. With more than 100,000 teammates and 1,700 stores worldwide, Decathlon and its teams have been working ever since 1976 to fulfil an ongoing ambition: Move people through the wonders of sport, to help them be healthier and happier in a sustainable future.

Decathlon's UK business, established in 1999, currently employs 1,450 individuals who contribute to the company's mission and vision.