JD Sports increases full year profit guidance following ‘robust’ trading
JD Sports has increased its full year profit guidance following a strong performance across Black Friday and Christmas.
The retailer now expects pre-tax profit for the year to 29 January 2022 to be at least £875 million. This is ahead of current market expectations, which average £810 million.
In a trading statement, JD Sports said total revenues for the twenty-two week period to 1 January 2022 in its like for like businesses were more than 10% ahead of the same period in 2020. In addition, it said gross margins for the second half are in line with the previous year.
JD said the “robust” performance demonstrated the strength of its relationships with consumers, multichannel operation and operational infrastructure.
Peter Cowgill, JD Sports executive chairman, added: “The commitment of our colleagues is crucial to our success and I would like to thank everyone in our various businesses for their significant contribution in delivering this outstanding performance.”
Looking ahead, JD Sports said it is well placed to manage challenges relating to the Covid-19 pandemic across Europe and Southeast Asia as well as short-term constraint in the supply of inventory from certain brands.
According to its best estimate, the company expects headline pre-tax profit for the full year to 28 January 2023 to be in line with the current year, which is ahead of current market expectations for the 2023 financial year. However, it expects the phasing of profit in the year will revert to more to historic norms with approximately 35% to 40% of the annual profit being generated in the first half.
