The John David Group said today that it expects better earnings than those estimated by market analysts for the financial year ending next Feb. 2, thanks to a positive development of the Christmas selling season. The British sporting goods retailer has been performing better than its main rivals, which are due to make their own Christmas trading statements shortly.
For the JD Group, same-store sales grew by 9.3 percent in the eight weeks ended on Jan. 5, with its sports stores recording a gain of 8.8 percent and the fashion stores improving by 16.0 percent. This excludes the recently acquired Bank group. This takes the growth for the first 49 weeks of the current financial year to 11.4 percent on a comparable store basis, with gains of 11.6 percent in sport and 7.8 percent in fashion.
The management attributes the sales improvement to increased marketing, better data processing and merchandising support. Before announcing the results for the full year on Apr. 17, the company’s board of directors will go to shareholders to ask to buy back some of its own shares.
