JD Sports Fashion has announced that it will be buying back £200 million (€229m) in shares over the course of FY 2027, “in line with the Company’s capital allocation priorities and its commitment to continue delivering significant cash returns to shareholders.” JD’s stated aim is to reduce its share capital. Shares acquired under the program will be sold on to JD and be either cancelled or held in treasury.
The company will begin “immediately” with a first tranche of £100 million (€115m) in ordinary shares of £0.0005 each, for which it has entered into an irrevocable agreement with Merrill Lynch. BofA Securities (Bank of America) will be making the purchases on the London Stock Exchange. This transaction should close no later than July 31, the end of the financial year’s first half, with arrangements to follow for a second tranche of up to £100 million.
The program’s terms were set at the general meeting of July 2, 2025. The authority to make these purchases expires on July 31, 2026, at which point JD expects to seek a renewal.
The company announced the completed purchase of a previous tranche worth £100 million on Dec. 17. This was part of the program approved in July 2025, which capped the number of purchasable shares at 515,475,677. The new tranche draws from the 368,613,803 shares left from that total.
JD purchased yet another £100 million tranche in the first half of 2025 but on earlier authorization.
Shares of JD Sports Fashion were trading at £78.18 (€89.48) at the market’s close on Friday, Feb. 20. With about 4.946 billion shares outstanding, this yields a market capitalization of about £3.87 billion (€4.43bn).
