JD Sports raises profit forecast following ‘robust’ demand
JD Sports has said demand has been robust during the second half of its financial year with total sales rising by 5% in the 22 weeks to 2 January.
The retailer attributed the uplift to customers readily switching to online channels during the coronavirus pandemic due to temporary store closures across many of its territories.
As a result, the retailer said it now expects its headline pre-tax profit for the year to 30 January 2021 to be at least £400 million, which is significantly ahead of current market expectations of around £295 million.
Looking ahead, the retailer said operational restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic are are likely to last through at least the first quarter of the new financial year which could present significant challenges.
It added: “Under normal circumstances, we would be confident that the results for the forthcoming year to 29 January 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 29 January 2022 will be 5% to 10% ahead of the current year.”
