UK sportswear business JD Sports saw revenue improve 47 per cent over the first half year to £2.72 billion, with global like for like sales growth of 12 per cent.
JD Sports, which is expanding in Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea, among other global markets, saw group profit before tax and exceptional items increase 30 per cent to £158.6 million, up from the £121.9 million seen in the prior corresponding period.
According to JD Sports executive chairman Peter Cowgill, the management team is very pleased with the result, especially given the ongoing challenge of Brexit’s impact on retail in the UK.
“We recognise that there is heightened uncertainty surrounding the nature of the UK’s exit from the European Union, and we are very cognisant of the increased risk of a disorderly exit,” Cowgill said.
The group’s sports fashion businesses saw a strong half, with profit before tax and exceptional items growing 43 per cent to £182.4 million.
“The combined JD businesses in the Asia-Pacific region delivered total like-for-like growth of just under 10 per cent, although the earlier timing of Chinese New Year relative to last year did impact on the performance of the business,” Cowgill said.
“We continue to make learnings in all of our territories which we use to further refine our integrated digital propositions and, with the ongoing support of our key brand partners, we remain confident that further opportunities will prevail to expand the reach of our exciting and dynamic proposition in the region,” Cowgill said.
He noted that, in the Asia-Pacific region, JD Sports opened seven new stores during the period across Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
JD’s outdoor business, however, saw more mixed results – finishing the first half with a loss before tax and exceptional items of £20.1 million, compared to the 3.8 million loss seen during the prior period.
This was due to a challenging first quarter, compounded by a £20.7 million partial impairment due to goodwill from previous years on the acquisition of the Go Outdoors business.
