Stock Hits 3-Week Low; Shares lose the largest percentage share in the FTSEH1 index Earnings before tax fall more than 18% to £298.3m Revenue over a six-month period rises 14% to £4.42bn
Sep 22 (Reuters) – (This Sept 22 story is corrected to note that the company has about 3,400 stores, no more than 900 stores, in paragraph 6)
Britain’s largest sportswear retailer JD Sports (JD.L) struck a cautious tone on Thursday amid concerns that inflation could drive up costs and strikes at ports add to the challenges of Supply Chain.
The company’s comments come amid skyrocketing energy and other costs in Britain, with fashion retailers Primark (ABF.L) and ASOS (ASOS.L) and online grocer Ocado Retail ( OCDO.L) warning of profits. read more
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JD Sports chief financial officer Neil Greenhalgh told Reuters that as its products are mainly shipped from Asia, the strike at the ports of Felixstowe and Liverpool, among others, had exacerbated supply chain problems.
JD, which sells global brands like Nike (NKE.N), Adidas (ADSGn.DE) and Reebok, as well as private labels like Pink Soda and Supply & Demand, said UK sales, mainly online, softened. in August and early September, as customers were slow to stock up on heavier fall items such as sweatshirts and tracksuits, while the weather remained relatively warm.
Greenhalgh said cheaper private label items were likely to do better than other brands and the “Technicals” clothing range was the best performer in that segment.
JD, which has some 3,400 stores worldwide, said sales so far in the second half of its fiscal year were up 8% year-on-year. He reiterated his forecast that earnings for the year to January 28, 2023 would be in line with the previous year’s record performance.
Shares of the FTSE 100 company (.FTSE) fell as much as 8% to 113.95 pence, their lowest in three weeks, before paring losses to trade down 4% by 0830 GMT. They were still the largest percentage of losers in the first-class index.
Pre-tax profit fell 18% to 298.3 million pounds ($335.3 million) for the six months ended July 30, while revenue rose 14% to 4.42 billion pounds.
($1 = 0.8897 pounds)
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Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bangalore; Edited by Devika Syamnath and Mark Potter
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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