JD Sports annual pre-tax profit to exceed £1 billion
JD Sports is expecting its pre-tax profit to exceed £1 billion in the current financial year as it continues to attract younger shoppers.
In a year-end announcement for the 12 months to 28 January, the sportswear retailer said profit before tax and adjusting items rose to £991.4 million in the period from £947.2 million in the prior year. Revenue growth was also strong, rising to £10.1 billion from a previous £8.6 billion.
JD said its international expansion programme is progressing well with 58 net new JD stores opened across Europe, including the company’s first stores in Hungary, Lithuania and Greece. It now also has 138 shops trading as JD in North America after opening a flagship store in Chicago.
JD Sports chief executive Régis Schultz said: “I am very pleased to report that the group continues to make excellent progress…
“To further increase the group’s profitability when the first half was impacted by the well-publicised international supply chain challenges, which resulted in the reduced availability of certain key footwear styles, gives me great confidence in both the strength of our market leading sports fashion proposition and the expertise of our colleagues.”
Giving an update on more current trading, the company said organic sales grew by more than 15% at constant exchange rates in the first 13 weeks of the new financial year.
Assuming current exchange rates, JD is expecting its group headline profit before tax and adjusted items for the 53 week period ending 3 February 2024 to be in line with the current average consensus expectations of £1.03 billion.
