Bury-based sportswear giant JD Sports has reported a half-year adjusted profit ahead of expectations, as demand for trainers drive sales.
The international retailer said adjusted pre-tax profit rose two per cent to £405.6m in the 26 weeks to August 3 from £397.6m.
This was ahead of a company compiled consensus of £395m.
JD Sports said its adjusting items, which are what it deems to be one-off costs, include spending related to its acquisition of US rival sportswear brand Hibbett earlier this year, costs related to the closure of a distribution centre in Derby and an updated Genesis put and call option valuation.
Including these, statutory pre-tax profit plunged 64 per cent to £126.3m from £353.7m.
Revenue increased by 5.2 per cent to £5.03bn from £4.78bn.
JD said it outperformed a "challenging and volatile" market with organic sales growth of 6.4 per cent and like-for-like growth of 0.7 per cent.
Nonetheless, shares in JD Sports were down 3.3 per cent to 144.50p each in London on Wednesday morning.
The share price reaction reflected disappointing news from JD's key customer Nike late Tuesday.
The US sports retailer withdrew its full-year financial outlook and guided second quarter earnings lower than consensus expectations.
Nike lost 5.9 per cent in after-hours trading in New York on Tuesday and was down 5.2 per cent in pre-market activity on Wednesday.
At JD Sports, revenue growth was hurt by 2.8 per cent due to prior period revenue from disposals and 1.5 per cent from currency. There was also a 1.9 per cent benefit from the timing impact of the previous 53-week year.
Geographically, the two fastest growing regions for JD Sports, Europe and North America, delivered double-digit organic sales growth just over 10 per cent with the rollout of the JD fascia leading the growth in both regions.
In the UK, trading improved sequentially through the first half, but performance was held back by non-core disposals made during the prior period.
Footwear continued to trade better than apparel, the firm said, although both categories grew.
Footwear sales were driven by the continued growth in "sneakers" around the world.
Growth in the period was 9.6 per cent and footwear's share of revenue increased 2.4 percentage points to 59.8 per cent.
Clothing was again held back by challenging weather conditions, particularly in the UK and Europe, where the spring/summer season was wetter than average.
This had a knock-on effect on margin as the industry sold more stock at discounted prices in the summer sales season ahead of the back-to-school period and then into the autumn/winter season.
Looking ahead, JD Sports' overall guidance range of £955m to £1.04bn for adjusted pre-tax profit in the 2025 financial year remains unchanged. This would be up from the 2024 financial year (£912.4m).
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