JD Sports first-half profit hit by North American weakness

By James Davey

LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - British sports and fashion retailer JD Sports reported a 19.7% drop in first-half profit on Wednesday, hurt by weakness in its key North American market, but maintained the full-year earnings outlook it downgraded last month.

The group's shares are down 10% over the last year, reflecting pressure on its core younger and less affluent customer base, a market driven by promotions, and a lack of innovation from Nike, which is overhauling its business and accounts for more than 40% of JD's sales.

JD made a profit before tax and adjusting items of £282 million ($375.4 million) in the six months to August 1 on sales down 0.7% to £5.9 billion.

Group like-for-like sales fell 3.1% in its second quarter, with North America down 6.8%.

JD makes over a third of its sales in North America where it trades as JD Sports, Hibbett, DTLR, Shoe Palace and Finish Line.

'CHALLENGING BACKDROP'

CEO Regis Schultz said JD's first-half performance was resilient against "a challenging backdrop of consumer cost-of-living pressures, footwear product-cycle headwinds and a highly promotional market."

He said JD had made progress in expanding its product range, growing its online business and developing its loyalty programme.

However, Schultz reiterated that several of the factors that affected first-half trading "may persist into H2".

The group, which operates more than 4,800 stores across 51 countries, kept its forecast for a full-year 2026/27 profit before tax and adjusting items of between £700 million and £800 million, down from the £852 million made in 2025/26.

Prior to Wednesday's update analysts were on average forecasting £727 million for 2026/27.

Analysts at Peel Hunt said for the consensus to improve "we need to see a pick-up in consumer confidence and in product heat. Neither seems imminent."

($1 = 0.7513 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young and Louise Heavens)