JD Sports has upped its full-year profits expectations to at least £875m following a "positive performance" across the Black Friday and Christmas period.
The Greater Manchester-headquartered retailer added that it "recognises the benefit" from the fiscal stimulus in the United States in the first half of the year and "would estimate that this may have contributed up to £100m to this result".
It is raising its pre-tax profit expectations from an average margin consensus of £810m following a "sustained positive nature of consumer demand through the second half" of its financial year.
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The listed company added its total revenues for the 22-week period to January 1, 2022, in the group's like for like businesses were more than 10% ahead of the same period in 2020.
A statement issued to the London Stock Exchange said: "Given the challenges that have prevailed from the Covid-19 pandemic, including the disruption of the supply chain operations of some of our key brand partners, this is another extremely robust performance which further demonstrates the strength of the relationship that our fascias have with their consumers, the agility of our multichannel operations, the strength of our operational infrastructure and the resilience of our colleagues.
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"Looking ahead, management are cognisant of the ongoing challenges with operational restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic across Europe and Southeast Asia combined with the well-publicised short-term constraint in the supply of inventory from certain brands.
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"However, the group, with its buying and merchandising capabilities, its breadth in brands and product assortment and a deep multichannel connection with the consumer, is well placed to manage these challenges.
"At this time, assuming no further trading restrictions in our most material markets of the 海角视频 and North America, absorbing the additional statutory costs of employment in the 海角视频 and reflecting the benefit that accrued from the financial stimulus in the United States in the current year, our best estimate is that the group headline profit before tax for the full year to 28 January 2023 will be in line with the current year, which is ahead of current market expectations for the 2023 financial year.
"We would expect, however, that the phasing of the profit in the year to 28 January 2023 will revert more to historic norms with approximately 35% to 40% of the annual profit being generated in the first half."
Chairman Peter Cowgill added: "The commitment of our colleagues is crucial to our success and I would like to thank everyone in our various businesses for their significant contribution in delivering this outstanding performance."