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JD Sports Fashion PLC on Thursday said it outperformed the sportswear market in its financial year and it backed profit guidance, handing its shares a boost after they were sold-off following a January outlook cut. Shares in JD Sports rose 6.1% to 123.64 pence each in London on Thursday morning. The stock is down around 25% year-to-date. Lancashire-based, FTSE 100-listed sportswear retailer JD Sports said like-for-like sales rose 4.2% on-year in the 53 weeks to February 3, and were up 8.4% organically on a constant currency basis. Total sales grew 3.6% to around £10.5 billion. As a result, it expects full-year pretax profit before adjusted items to be in line with its guided range of £915 million to £935 million, but down from £991.4 million the year earlier. In January, the Lancashire-based firm cut its outlook to that range. In September, it said it expected to meet market expectations at the time of £1.04 billion. The guidance cut sparked a more than 20% slide in its share price on January 4. ‘We made good strategic progress, opening 215 new JD stores, and focusing our effort on developing JD and enhancing EPS through taking full control of ISRG and MIG,’ said Chief Executive Officer Regis Schultz. JD also outlined its initial financial 2025 profit forecast of £900 million to £980 million, while saying trading in the new financial year-to-date is in line with its expectations after seven weeks. Schultz continued: ‘Looking ahead, the current trading environment remains challenging due to less product innovation and elevated promotional activity, especially online. We anticipate trading conditions will improve as we move through the year, helped by a busy sporting summer and softer comparatives with last year.’ Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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