JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports, JD or JD Group[3] is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Pentland Group owns 55% of the company. History A JD Sports store in Westfield Carousel, Perth The company was established by John Wardle and David Makin (hence the name JD), trading from a single shop in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1981. The company opened a store in the Arndale Centre in Manchester in 1983. Pentland Group bought Wardle's and Makin's shares for £44.6M in May 2005, so acquiring 45% of the business. Acquisitions Early acquisitions of stores included 209 stores with the acquisition of First Sport from Blacks Leisure Group in December 2001 and 70 stores from the administrators of Allsports in October 2005 In addition, the company acquired the rugby heritage brands 'Canterbury' and 'Canterbury of New Zealand' as well as 'The Duffer of St. George' and 'Kooga Rugby' brands The company has been the subject of accusations of mistreatment of its UK warehouse staff, with comparisons being made to Victorian "dark satanic mills" and "prison" conditions in 2016 and 2019
