The British trading group JD Sports Fashion PLC was able to increase its sales in the 2024/25 financial year, but had to accept a decline in profits. Surprisingly, the results presented on Wednesday did not come. The group had already published essential key data in advance at the beginning of April.
In the latest financial year, which was completed on February 1, the group turnover therefore amounted to £ 11.5 billion (13.6 billion euros). This corresponded to an increase of 8.7 percent compared to the previous year. Adjusted for the contribution of the additional sales week in the 2023/24 financial year, the proceeds grew by 10.2 percent (currency -adjusted +12.0 percent).
The group owed the increase in sales in essentially newly open branches of its existing formats and the takeover of the HiBbed and Courir retail chains. On a comparable area, the proceeds rose only by 0.3 percent and thus remained behind expectations.
The profit drops compared to the previous year
However, the result missed the previous year’s level. The designated operational profit fell by 2.6 percent to 903 million British pounds. The result, which was adjusted for special effects before taxes, shrank by 4.0 percent to 923 million British pound, but was thus in the area of the forecast corridor from 915 to 935 million British pounds.
The bottom line was a net profit of 490 million British pounds (580 million euros) due to the shareholders, which corresponded to a decline of around nine percent compared to the previous year.
In the first quarter of 2025/26, the sales development was “in the context of expectations”
The group also explained that sales development in the first quarter of the current financial years 2025/26 was within the framework of expectations. According to this, the proceeds rose by 3.1 percent on an organic basis in the twelve weeks before May 3, while they declined by 2.0 percent on a comparable area. The gross margin was at the level of the same period last year.