JD Sports sees improvement despite sales decline

JD Sports sees sales decline further, especially in its UK home market. In the important U.S. market, the trend does improve. Consumers are resilient but selective in their purchases, the retailer says.

Difficult basis for comparison

In the second quarter, the group’s comparable sales fell 3% to 3.1 million pounds (3.56 million euros). For the first half of the year, the decline was 2.5%. In the United Kingdom, sales fell 6.1% in the second quarter and 3.3% in the first half of the year. Nevertheless, the company highlights an improved trend in several regions.

Especially in the United States, there are signs of stabilization after a sharp decline in the previous quarter. This is not without significance, as the sportswear retailer generates nearly 40% of its sales there through its JD Sports, Hibbett, DTLR and Shoe Palace retail chains. The company does remain vigilant about possible effects of U.S. import tariffs.

“In both Europe and the UK, we were annualising tough comparators from the Euros football tournament last year, but still saw a good underlying performance in apparel and from newer footwear lines,” said CEO Régis Schultz. “Across our regions and fascias, in general we see a resilient consumer, albeit very selective on their purchases. We therefore remain cautious on the trading environment going into the second half of the year.”