Sports Direct, Britain's biggest sporting goods retailer, said it would not rule out taking further stakes in rivals and that potential acquisitions in Europe were constantly being assessed as part of its expansion plans.
The group is majority owned by founder and Newcastle United soccer club owner Mike Ashley.
It has already taken surprise positions this year in department store group Debenhams, online retailer MySale and Britain's biggest retailer Tesco, all firms it now has retail deals with.
It also holds a 50% stake in Irish retailer Heatons.
"We always look to explore opportunities," Sports Direct chief executive Dave Forsey said today as the firm posted an 11% rise in first half earnings.
"We have a history of strategic stakes and that may or may not continue," he said, referring to previous investments in key suppliers like Adidas and its current 11.8% holding in British rival JD Sports.
This year the group has struck derivative agreements that represent a 12.7% interest in Debenhams and a 0.3% interest in Tesco. In addition it has opened four trial concession stores with Debenhams and others with Tesco.
Sports Direct has grown rapidly via acquisitions of bust rivals and unloved brands. It has 434 UK sports stores and another 270 elsewhere in Europe - a market eight times the size of Britain's and one where Forsey says many acquisition opportunities lie.
"There's a constant state of activity on M&A across not just sports retail but also brands and the rest of the group.
With the European expansion, of course we will be active," he said.
The group today posted an 11% rise in underlying core earnings before share scheme costs to £203.1m for the 26 weeks to October 26, led by a 6.5% rise in total sales and higher margins.
Core sports retail sales rose 8.3%, but fell at its fashion and brand units.
The group said current trading was good and it was confident of at least reaching full-year underlying core earnings before share scheme costs of £360m - 9% ahead of a year ago.
