JD Sports Fashion remains confident its annual pre-tax profits will be in the upper range of current market expectations after a positive Christmas trading period.
In a trading update, the UK retailer said against a backdrop of widely reported retail challenges in its core UK market, it is encouraging to report positive like-for-like trends in the group’s global sports fashion fascias, particularly overseas.
While the sports retailer did not provide any specific figures, it remains confident that the full-year group headline profit before tax will be in the upper quartile of current market expectations which, after adjusting for the impact of the transition to IFRS 16, range from GBP403m to GBP433m (US$523.4m-$562.3m)
It added, however, given the “increasing significance” of its international businesses in the overall group result, and the fact that there is a differentiated timing of the post-Christmas sale period in a number of its key overseas markets, the ultimate outturn will reflect trading in these markets through the remainder of January.
Greg Lawless, analyst at Shore Capital, notes JD Sports has announced a “reassuring” trading update.
“The statement lacks specific trading figures but the tone of the statement is positive and we note that there is another upgrade from the company…This implies a further upgrade on the back of the last one in the autumn,” he adds.
Preliminary results for the year ended 1 February will be published on 15 April.
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