A logo is seen outside a JD Sports store at Westfield Stratford City in London, Britain, July 30, 2024. REUTERS
LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) – British sports and fashion retailer JD Sports reported a 19.7% drop in first-half profit on Wednesday, hurt by weakness in its key North American market, but maintained the full-year earnings outlook it downgraded last month.
The group’s shares are down 10% over the last year, reflecting pressure on its core younger and less affluent customer base, a market driven by promotions, and a lack of innovation from Nike, which is resetting its business and accounts for more than 40% of JD’s sales.
JD made a profit before tax and adjusting items of £282 million ($375.4 million) in the six months to August 1 on sales down 0.7% to £5.9 billion.
Group like-for-like sales fell 3.1% in its second quarter, with North America down 6.8%.
The group, which has over 4,800 stores across 51 countries, kept its forecast for a full-year 2026/27 profit before tax and adjusting items of between £700 million and £800 million, down from the £852 million made in 2025/26.
Prior to Wednesday’s update analysts were on average forecasting £727 million for 2026/27.
($1 = 0.7513 pounds)
Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young
