JD SPORTS OUTRUNS SUPERDRY

SHARES in two of Britain’s biggest fashion groups went in opposite directions as their fortunes contrasted over the past few months.

JD Sports rose 6.6pc as its winning streak showed no sign of ending despite a shortage of shoes. But Superdry was down 4.2pc after it sounded a note of caution amid raging inflation.

JD said it expects profits for the 12 months to the end of January 2022 to come in at £940m.

And the retailer said profits for the current year will be ‘at least equal to that’ with sales in the past 14 weeks 5pc higher than a year earlier.

Peel Hunt analysts said: ‘JD has shone brightly when others have been fading. The shares were expecting bad news. This is a lovely surprise.

Superdry is struggling to emulate JD’s continued success. The clothing company reported group revenues of £600m for the year ending April 23, up 8pc from the year before but still well below pre-pandemic revenues of £872m in 2019.

And chief executive Julian Dunkerton warned of the ‘impact of inflation’ on the business.