JD Sports remains resilient amidst challenging market conditions, maintaining its full-year profit guidance and demonstrating 'good strategic progress.' Despite the market's persistent challenges, the sports giant reports a 3.6% increase in total sales to £10.5bn over the 53-week period ending 3 February.

Good progress amidst challenges
April 2, 2024 By Jotham Okafor

Sportswear Retailer JD Sports.

JD Sports remains resilient amidst challenging market conditions, maintaining its full-year profit guidance and demonstrating 'good strategic progress.' Despite the market's persistent challenges, the sports giant reports a 3.6% increase in total sales to £10.5bn over the 53-week period ending 3 February. Like-for-like sales rose by 4.2%, with organic sales experiencing an impressive 8.4% surge.

Affirming its adjusted pre-tax profit range of £915m to £935m, JD Sports stands firm on its initial guidance, despite revising down from the initial £1.04bn target. The company acknowledged falling short of its £1bn profit guidance in January, attributing it to a "softer" performance during the golden quarter, where fourth-quarter group like-for-likes stagnated at 0.1%.

While final quarter sales in the UK and Ireland saw a 3.2% dip, JD Sports attributes this to a weaker apparel performance compared to footwear and a deliberate choice to refrain from fully engaging in significant online promotional activities.

JD Sports' CEO, Régis Schultz, notes the company's outperformance within the sportswear market during the FY24 financial year, highlighting the strength of their business operations. Despite ongoing market challenges, the retailer reports that trading in the new financial year aligns with expectations.

For the current fiscal year, JD Sports anticipates pre-tax profit between £900m and £980m, with expected like-for-like and organic sales growth ranging from 1% to 4% and 6% to 9%, respectively. Schultz remains cautiously optimistic about future prospects, foreseeing improved trading conditions as the year progresses, buoyed by a busy sporting summer and more favorable comparisons with the previous year's performance.