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JD Sports Fashion PLC on Wednesday announced a new share buyback, although sales remained sluggish amid a ‘selective’ albeit ‘resilient’ consumer. In response, shares in the Bury, England-based sports retailer rose 5.1% to 98.83 pence each in London on Wednesday morning. It was the best performing stock in the wider FTSE 100 which was up 0.2%. Sales fell 3.0% to £3.11 billion on a like-for-like basis in the 13 weeks to August 2, but increased 2.2% on an organic basis. The drop was in line with Visible Alpha consensus. Like-for-like sales declined 2.3% in North America, by 1.1% in Europe and 6.1% in the UK. They increased by 0.3% in Asia Pacific. On an organic basis sales rose by 4.8% in North America, by 5.4% in Europe and by 9.3% in Asia Pacific. In the UK, they dropped 4.5%. Chief Executive Regis Schultz said in general ‘we see a resilient consumer, albeit very selective on their purchases. We therefore remain cautious on the trading environment going into H2.’ JD Sports highlighted an improved LFL sales trend for the quarter in North America but noted Europe and the UK were affected by tough prior year comparatives due to the Euro 2024 football tournament. In the first quarter of the financial year, LFL sales fell 5.5% in North America and by the same amount in Asia Pacific. They grew 0.7% in Europe and by 0.4% in the UK. JD reported a good performance in apparel but said footwear was softer given end of cycle for key product lines. Schultz said: ‘For Q2, in North America we saw an improved performance following the deferral of several product launches from Q1, along with stronger sales trends in apparel and online. In both Europe and the UK, we were annualising tough comparators from the Euros football tournament last year, but still saw a good underlying performance in apparel and from newer footwear lines.’ The firm said it was ‘maintaining trading disciplines with controlled price investments, particularly in online.’ Looking ahead, JD Sports expects full-year pretax profit before adjusting items in line with current market expectations for £885 million, noting a range of £852 million to £915 million. JD Sports said it remains ‘cautious given the continued strains on consumer finances, unemployment risk, and the ongoing shift in the footwear product cycle.’ The firm said it continues to assess potential impacts from US tariffs but does not consider their direct impact to be material. Reflecting confidence in medium-term industry growth prospects, the company announced a new £100 million share buyback programme. At the end of July, the firm completed a buyback of the same size. JD Sports said returning surplus capital via buybacks represents ‘a compelling return on equity’ given current share price levels. The firm expects to commence the programme post the half-year results which are due for release on September 24. ‘We are well placed to continue growing our market share in the key growth regions of North America and Europe, and confident about the medium-term growth prospects for our industry,’ Schultz added. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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