FASHIONABLE YOUTH TO HELP JD SPORTS RIDE OUT SLUMP
JD SPORTS reckons young people will ensure it rides out any recession.
The sportswear retailer is banking on youth to insulate it from the rising cost of living. Finance boss Neil Greenhalgh said people will still want to ‘look cool and be fashionable’.
He said: ‘Image is incredibly important for our customers. The shoes and clothes they wear define who they are, it defines their personality.
‘Their desire to spend doesn’t really change, because they are motivated by desire rather than economics.’
New chief executive Regis Schultz
said: ‘Unemployment is very low and it is much easier for young people to find a part-time job, so they have more extra income to spend.’
But its shares fell 8.4pc, or 10.4p, to 113.45p as it conceded it was not immune to inflation, economic uncertainty and strikes.
Overall sales rose from £3.9bn in the first half of last year to £4.2bn this year. Full-year profit is in line with last year’s record £947.2m. The results come after JD agreed to pay former executive chairman Peter Cowgill over £6m after he was ousted in May.