Canadian sporting goods retailer SportChek ended the fourth quarter of 2022 with revenue down 1.7%.

SportChek is a major Canadian retailer of sport clothing and sports equipment, including skiing, camping and paddlesports gear, with nearly 200 stores throughout the country.

In a conference call with investors Thursday, Gregory Craig, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Canadian Tire Company (CTC), which owns and operates SportChek, said the retailer‘s highlight in Q4 was the growth of fanware, or sports apparel, driven by last year’s World Cup.

Those licensed apparel sales partly offset declines in categories such as outerwear, according to the company’s quarterly results released Thursday.

However, Craig added that softer consumer spending and milder weather lowered demand for categories such as snow gear toward the end of the year.

The company also said sales were negatively affected by aggressive, deep discounts from big brands such as Nike and Adidas. 

On the conference call, Greg Hicks, president and CEO of CTC, praised the assortment of good, better and best house brands at its retail companies.

“At SportChek we are very pleased with our own brand performance, including Forward with Design and Woods, both of which are positioned within the better tier,” Hicks said. 

Overall 2022 sales for CTC’s retail segment were up 2.7% and the fourth quarter was in line with 2021’s “exceptional performance,” when comparable sales were up 11.3%, the company said in a release. The retail segment also includes Canadian Tire, Mark’s, and Pro Hockey Life stores.

“These results, combined with a strong retail top line over the year, demonstrate we managed well through a dynamic economic environment,” Hicks said in a release.