Sporting half-year numbers from JD
● Retail giant will continue to make acquisitions and investments
Retailer JD Sports Fashion has hailed another record set of results and upped its earnings outlook for the full year after robust sales.
The group, whose outdoor clothing and equipment business includes Tiso, Blacks and Millets, cheered an “exceptional first half” yesterday after it saw pre-tax profits leap by a third to £102.7 million in the six months to 29 July.
It told investors that full-year profits were now set to come in towards the upper end of market expectations, which are currently in the range of £268m to £290m.
Executive chairman Peter Cowgill said strong sales across its core UK and Ireland stores underpinned the halfyear profit jump, but he also hailed progress on expanding internationally.
Cowgill said: “This is another pleasing result demonstrating the strength of our highly differentiated multichannel proposition and our ability to prosper in an increasingly competitive market for athletic-inspired footwear and apparel.”
He added: “We are encouraged by the sales to date in the second half which have continued at similar levels to those in the first half.”
The group notched up a 3 per cent rise in UK and Ireland like-for-like sales, while sales rose 7 per cent across mainland Europe on a constant currency basis.
Its record first-half performance comes despite fears over trading in June after the group said it was facing margin pressure and that comparative sales would be impacted by the timing of the Islamic festival of Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan.
But JD Sports confirmed in its half-year figures that its profit margin was slightly below the previous year as it has faced soaring buying costs as a result of the Brexithit pound.
The group continued its store expansion both in the UK and overseas in the halfyear, opening 40 shops on a net basis. It said 23 of these were in mainland Europe and a similar number are expected to open in the region over the second half.
The group, which acquired a controlling stake in the Edinburgh-based Tiso outdoor chain in 2013 and also owns the Go Outdoors business, declared an interim shareholder dividend of 0.26p, up 4 per cent on a year earlier.
Cowgill added: “The base of our ongoing excellent multichannel retail performance comes from the continued strength of our core UK and Ireland sports fashion fascias.
“We have strengthened our foundations by significant progression internationally both instore and online so that the JD fascia now has a much broader store and multichannelconsumerreachandbrand influence globally.”
The group said it expected its capital expenditure for the full year to be about £160m. “In addition, we will continue to use our cash resources to make selected acquisitions and investments where they benefit our strategic development,” it added.
JD expects to provide an update on trading in early January following its key Christmas trading period.
The company was established in the early 1980s by John Wardle and David Makin – providing the initials JD from their first names – and trading from a single shop in Bury.
“We have strengthened our foundations by significant progression internationally both instore and online.”
PETER COWGILL, CHAIR