JD Sports has issued a trading update saying sales are challenging now, but the company says conditions will improve later in the year.
Still the company expects to make between £915million and £935million before tax in the year up to early February. It came despite a tough January when the business said it had to cope with “elevated promotional activity” – industry jargon for products being on sale. The company “chose not to participate fully” in these sales in the UK and Ireland, which were mainly online.
As a result like-for-like sales fell by 3.2% in the region in the fourth quarter. The business said that profit could be both lower or higher in the current financial year than it was last year. It expects pre-tax profit to be between £900 million to £980 million.
“Looking ahead, the current trading environment remains challenging due to less product innovation and elevated promotional activity, especially online,” said chief executive Regis Schultz. “We anticipate trading conditions will improve as we move through the year, helped by a busy sporting summer and softer comparatives with last year.”
JD Sports opened 215 new shops in the year to early February and said that their new UK loyalty programme has been popular, with 800,000 downloads so far. Sales at JD Sports rose by 4.2% over the year, with Asia Pacific leading the way at 11.8%. The UK and Ireland saw the weakest growth at just 0.8%.
"In our 2024 financial year, we outperformed the sportswear market, reflecting the strength of our business," said Mr Schultz. "We achieved like-for-like sales growth of over 4%, organic growth of over 8%." He added: "We made good strategic progress, opening 215 new JD stores."
Shares rose by 6.3% on Thursday morning.