The parent company of sports retail stores Perry Sport and Aktiesport has applied for court protection from creditors after becoming the latest high street chain to get into financial difficulty.

USG Holding says it has been affected by the bankruptcies of department store V&D and shoe chain Scapino, where Perry and Aktiesport  had dozens of shop-in-shop operations.

Perry had 11 outlets in V&D department stores and Aktiesport 128 units within the Scapino operation. The closure of both high street companies hurt sales, forcing the company to apply for court protection, news agency ANP says.

It is not clear what the impact will be on the independent Perry and Aktiesport shops and the company has declined to comment so far, ANP says.

In total, USG has a workforce of around 800. Perry has some 70 outlets nationwide and Aktiesport 180.

Scapino is being taken over by the Assen-based Ziengs group but, according to some reports, the alliance with Aktiesport has been cancelled.