JD Sports hails resilient performance
JD Sports has hailed the resilience of its performance in a volatile market as it reported a decline in full year profit.
In the 52 weeks to 1 February, pre-tax profit before adjusting items fell by 4% to £923 million, mainly due the group’s continued investment in infrastructure, controls and security.
Pre-tax profit dropped by 11.8% to £715 million, which JD Sports partly attributed to an increase of £53 million in adjusting items.
Meanwhile, revenue grew by 12% to £11.5 billion in the period.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Régis Schultz, chief executive of JD Sports Fashion, said: ““In April, we announced we were adapting our strategy to reflect slower anticipated market growth and an increased focus on profitability, leveraging the investments we have made to support our growth in the key markets of North America and Europe, delivering strong cash generation and improving returns to our shareholders.
“Our focus on increasing shareholder returns is demonstrated by paying FY25 dividends of £52 million, up 11% on the previous period, and after the period end, the commencement of a £100 million share buyback programme.”
JD Sports said trading in the first 13 weeks of its new financial was in line with expectations. While like-for-like sales declined by 2%, the group delivered organic sales growth of 3.1%, driven by a 5.1% contribution from new space. .
Schultz added: “Overall trading in the first quarter of the new financial year has been in line with our expectations in a volatile market.
“Despite this volatility, and uncertainty surrounding the impact of US tariff changes, we look forward into the medium term with confidence that we can continue to outperform the market, improve our profit margin and create significant value for our shareholders.”
