JD Sports cautious about H2 trading but reaffirms outlook

In an interim results announcement for the first half period, JD Sports Fashion has reported a 19 percent drop in pre-tax profits to 298 million pounds.

The company’s total group revenue came in at 4.4 billion pounds. Total revenue growth in organic retail businesses was up 5 percent with that level of growth continuing in the second half to date including a return to growth in the US.

The company said the results were “at the top end of the board's expectations”.

JD Sports ‘remains cautious’

Commenting on the results, non-executive chair Andrew Higginson said: “We continue to be reassured by the ongoing resilience in the group's performance with trade to date through the second half following a similar trend to the first half with total sales in the group's organic retail businesses tracking around 8 percent ahead of the prior year after six weeks.”

“Given the widespread macroeconomic uncertainty, inflationary pressures and the potential for further disruption to the supply chain with industrial action a continuing risk in many markets, it is inevitable that we remain cautious about trading through the remainder of the second half,” Higginson added.

The JD board has proposed an interim dividend of 0.13p per ordinary share.

The group's board is of the view that the headline pre-tax profit for the year to January 28, 2023 will be in line with the record performance last year.