Sports footwear has put a spring in the step for RCG Corporation Ltd, parent company of retail franchise chain The AthleteÕs Foot Australia. The franchise brand has produced a 17 percent like-for-like sales growth for the five months to May 2009 and directors have announced shareholders will receive substantial dividends.

Chairman Ivan Hammerschlag said the store chain continues to perform exceptionally well despite challenging market conditions.

“Year to date like-for-like sales growth now stands at 10 percent and we are therefore confident that RCG will comfortably achieve its profit guidance for the financial year.

“While we continue to actively pursue synergistic acquisition opportunities, we will not make an investment unless we believe that it will deliver considerable long term shareholder value. We believe that value will begin to materialize in the second half of the calendar year as asset values continue to fall,” he said.

Hammerschlag added “The AthleteÕs Foot continues to be both highly profitable and cash generative and there is therefore every reason to pay out a substantial portion of the profits as dividends, while retaining our core cash reserves to fund any potential acquisitions.”