JD Sports, which operates over 4,500 stores worldwide, maintains its annual guidance of Ebit before adjusting items of £955.0–1,035 million (€1.13—1.22bn) despite a persistently volatile global macro environment.
In Q2 ended Aug. 3, the UK-based group reported like-for-like sales growth of 2.4 percent and an organic sales increase of 8.3 percent. The results were fueled by double-digit organic sales growth in Europe (+10.5%), North America (+13.7%), and Asia-Pacific (+10.5%). Organic Q2 sales in the group’s home UK market increased by 1.2 percent. Like-for-like sales, meanwhile, expanded by 5.7 percent in North America, followed by 3.0 percent in Europe. Asia-Pacific like-for-like sales were essentially flat in Q2 and were down by 0.8 percent in the UK. All three main segments – JD, Complementary Concepts and Sporting Goods & Outdoor – reported a like-for-like growth of 2.7 percent for JD.
During Q2, the group completed its acquisition of Hibbett Sports in the US.
“While the overall market remains volatile, we showed good promotional discipline and managed inventory proactively to support gross margins in the period,” the company stated.
Group gross margin fell by 30 basis points to 48.4 percent in Q2. The decline was primarily attributable to apparel and online, with the UK being the most impacted.
