JD Sports reports ‘robust’ demand despite store closures

JD Sports Fashion, the global retail chain that owns one of the UK’s largest suppliers of fishing tackle, saw its same-store sales for the 22-week period to January 2nd increase by 5% as consumers switched to e-commerce.

The owner of GO Outdoors said in a statement to investors that against a backdrop of further forced closures in many of its territories across the world, demand has remained robust throughout its second half. It added that it is confident that profit before tax for the full year will be ‘significantly ahead’ of current market expectations and come in at £400m.”

Looking ahead, JD Sports said: “It is clear that operational restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic will be a material factor through at least the first quarter of the year to January 29th. While we are confident that we have the proposition to continue to attract consumers throughout this period, the process to scale down activity in stores and scale up the digital channels – often at extremely short notice – presents significant challenges. We are indebted to our colleagues in different territories who have had to adapt to new ways of working.

“Under normal circumstances, we would be confident that the results for the forthcoming year to January 29th, 2022 would show a strong improvement on the current year. However, given the ongoing uncertain outlook, with stores in the UK likely to be closed until at least Easter and closures in other countries possible at any time, our current best estimate is that the group headline profit before tax for the full year to January 29th, 2022 will be between five to 10% ahead of the current year.”