JD Sports Fashion HY revenue falls on weaker footwear demand
Overview
UK sportswear retailer's half-year revenue declined 0.7% yr/yr amid challenging market
Adjusted basic EPS fell 13.7% yr/yr as operating profit and margins declined
Company raised interim dividend 21% and maintained FY27 profit guidance
Outlook
JD Sports maintains FY27 profit before tax and adjusting items guidance of £700m-£800m
Company reiterates FY27 free cash flow guidance of £460m-£520m
Company expects challenging trading conditions to persist into H2
Result Drivers
CONSUMER PRESSURES - Co said cost-of-living pressures and subdued consumer sentiment weighed on sales, especially in North America and Europe
FOOTWEAR CYCLE HEADWINDS - Softness in end-of-cycle footwear lines and a highly promotional market impacted sales and margins
APPAREL & ONLINE GROWTH - Apparel and accessories sales grew and online sales increased, supported by new e-commerce platforms and omni-channel investments
Company press release:
Key Details
Metric | Beat/Miss | Actual | Consensus Estimate |
H1 Revenue | Slight Miss* | GBP 5.90 bln | GBP 5.94 bln (2 Analysts) |
H1 Adjusted Pretax Profit | Miss | GBP 282 mln | GBP 296 mln (1 Analyst) |
H1 Dividend | GBP 0.004 |
*Applies to a deviation of less than 1%; not applicable for per-share numbers.
Analyst Coverage
The current average analyst rating on the shares is "buy" and the breakdown of recommendations is 7 "strong buy" or "buy", 11 "hold" and no "sell" or "strong sell"
The average consensus recommendation for the apparel & accessories retailers peer group is "buy"
Wall Street's median 12-month price target for JD Sports Fashion PLC is GBp95.00, about 20.7% above its September 22 closing price of GBp78.72
The stock recently traded at 7 times the next 12-month earnings vs. a P/E of 7 three months ago
Reuters Recommended Reads
Sept 21 - British PM Andy Burnham seeks resolution to dispute over Diego Garcia base
Sept 22 - UK's SThree raises annual pretax profit forecast after cost cuts, strength in U.S. market
Sept 23 - H&M founding family builds stake as turnaround struggles to gain traction
For questions concerning the data in this report, contact Estimates.Support@lseg.com. For any other questions or feedback, contact reuters.support@thomsonreuters.com.
(This story was created using Reuters automation and AI based on LSEG and company data. It was checked and edited by a Reuters journalist prior to publication.)