JD Sports said it is “cautious” about trading over the rest of the year due to pressure on consumer finances and the risk of rising unemployment.
The Manchester firm has released a trading update in which sales fell 3% the second quarter and 2.5% in the first half of the year, though it said those figures were up against tough comparators due to a surge in sales around the 2024 Euros tournament. The Manchester firm said it was seeing an improving sales trend and was confident enough in its medium-term growth prospects to announce a £100m share buyback programme.
JD said organic sales were up 2.6% year-on-year. Sales in Europe and Asia Pacific fared better than those in America and the 海角视频. It said it had seen good performance in apparel but footwear was more challenging due to the some key product lines coming to the end of market cycles.
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Sales came in at £3.1bn for the 13 weeks up to August 2. The company said that it historically sees more revenue in the second half of its financial year due to the seasonality of its business, with around 60% of profits expected in that period.
CEO Régis Schultz said: "We are making strong progress in developing our omnichannel customer proposition, store footprint and supply chain, and we are controlling our costs and cash effectively. I am proud of all our teams across the globe for their energy and focus against tough trading conditions.
"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 海角视频, 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.
"Across our regions and fascias, in general we see a resilient consumer, albeit very selective on their purchases. We therefore remain cautious on the trading environment going into H2. For our FY26 profit before tax and adjusting items we expect to be in line with current market expectations, before any indirect impact of US tariffs which we continue to work through.”