JD Sports defying gloom on high street

Retailer JD Sports Fashion has continued to defy gloomy trading on the high street to see annual profits surge by almost a quarter.

The sportswear chain reported a better-than-expected 24% leap in pretax profits to £294.5 million for the year to February 3.

On an underlying basis, profits rose 26% to £307.4m.

It said like-for-like sales rose by 3% across all its stores and by 7% including online trading over the 53 weeks.

The group cheered another “exceptional year”, although the sales rise marked a slowdown on the doubledigit hikes seen in the previous three years.

It comes as the wider UK retail sector has suffered amid a dismal start to the year, hit by surging costs, freezing weather and snow disruption, as well as a pullback in consumer spending.

While the beast from the east swept in after JD Sports’ financial year end, the group said it was “satisfied” with progress in trading, though it declined to update on sales due to this year’s “significant change in the timing of Easter”.

JD Sports said its global expansion continued apace in the past year, with 56 stores opened on mainland Europe on a net basis.

It has also recently announced its US market debut after agreeing to buy up American sportswear company Finish Line for $558m (£388m) in what it has branded a “transformational” deal.

JD Sports now has 1,237 stores worldwide, including 385 shops in the UK and Ireland.