15th Apr 2015 06:52
LONDON (Alliance News) - JD Sports Fashion PLC Wednesday reported growth in profit in its recent financial year, boosted by strong sales in sports fashion, and despite a difficult second half following a "very mild autumn and winter".
The sportswear retailer reported an 18% rise in pretax profit for the year ended January 31 to GBP90.5 million from GBP76.8 million the year before. Revenue increased 25% to GBP1.5 billion from GBP1.2 billion, while like-for-like sports fashion sales grew 13% on the prior year.
It said an "outstanding performance" in sports fashion was the main driver for its results, with an 18% increase in sports fashion operating profits to GBP107 million from GBP91 million.
The second half of the year faced weaker than hoped for sales of its autumn and winter ranges during a particularly mild and dry season, JD Sports said, which has led to heavy discounting continuing into the new financial year.
The company said it is seeing "encouraging progress" in the development of the international sports fashion offering with new stores added in all existing territories. 19 new stores were opened in Europe, making a total of 70 stores, it said.
It will pay a total dividend of 7.050 pence per share, up 4.1% from 6.775p a year earlier.
"This result has been driven by an outstanding performance in our Sports Fashion fascias where JD's unique and often exclusive sports and fashion premium brand offer continues to enthuse and excite both customers and suppliers. This, combined with our market leading standards of visual merchandising and disciplines instore, provides the basis for international success," Chairman Peter Cowgill said in a statement.
"The board continues to believe that the group is well positioned to exploit successfully the opportunities that exist for continued profitable growth," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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