JD Sports Fashion reported profit before tax and adjusting items slid 13.5 percent in the first half on lower gross margins and organic sales growth of 2.7 percent. Same-store sales were down 2.5 percent, with declines of 3.8 percent in North America and 3.3 percent in its home market in the United Kingdom.

Régis Schultz, CEO of JD Sports Fashion Plc, said, “We delivered organic sales growth of +2.7 percent in H1, in what remains a tough trading environment. This demonstrates the resilience of our business, underpinned by our agile multi-brand model, broad geographic reach and unmatched connection with customers.

“In North America, where we gained market share in the period, the development of our operations is progressing well. We continue to build strong brand awareness of the JD fascia by building out our customer proposition and investing in new stores; and for our complementary fascias we are successfully progressing the integration of Hibbett, while DTLR and Shoe Palace took over the operations of City Gear in June.

“Our supply chain investments are poised to unlock significant efficiencies across our global network. Our new European distribution centre in Heerlen, the Netherlands, is set to launch automation for JD Europe store replenishment in the coming weeks, while our US west coast site in Morgan Hill is set to go live with JD and Finish Line by year-end – the next step of our plan to leverage our distribution centres on a multi-fascia basis.

“In an environment of strained consumer finances and evolving brand product cycles, operating and financial discipline remains a core focus for JD, and we are controlling our costs and cash well. Whilst we remain cautious on the trading environment for the second half, we expect limited impact from US tariffs this financial year, and our full year profit before tax and adjusting items to be in line with current market expectations.”

H126 Headlines

  • Market share gains in key growth markets of North America and Europe, against tough consumer backdrop
  • Strong progress against strategic objectives across omnichannel customer proposition, store footprint, supply chain and North America operations. Costs and cash being well controlled
  • Total sales +20.0 percent (at constant FX rates) driven by acquisitions of Hibbett and Courir; organic sales +2.7 percent (at constant FX rates) and like-for-like (LFL) sales -2.5 percent
  • Stronger LFL sales trends in apparel and online in North America; resilient LFL sales in Europe, and UK organic sales affected by tough Q2 comparatives due to Euro 2024 football tournament
  • Good underlying performance in apparel globally; footwear softer given ongoing shift in product cycle
  • Gross margin of 48.0 percent, 60bps lower YoY (40bps lower YoY excluding Hibbett and Courir). Maintaining trading disciplines with controlled price investments, particularly in online
  • Profit before tax and adjusting items (PBTAI) of £351m, in line with guidance given on August 27
  • Interim dividend of 0.33p declared; second £100m share buyback programme to commence soon
  • Expect FY26 PBTAI to be in line with current market expectations, with limited impact expected from US tariffs this financial year

Chief Executive Officer Review
Schultz said, “JD Sports is reinforcing its position as a leading international sports fashion powerhouse, in an attractive and growing market which benefits from ongoing casualisation and active lifestyle trends. In a tough trading environment in the short term – in terms of strained consumer finances together with evolving brand product cycles in athleisure – we have remained calm and focused on consistent execution against our strategic priorities, and strict operational and financial discipline. This is evidenced by market share gains in our key growth markets of North America and Europe in the period.

“Above all else, we remain obsessed with delighting our customers by evolving our multi-brand product assortment – including the latest and exclusive premium sports fashion, expanding and enhancing our store footprint, strengthening our omnichannel capabilities, and improving the efficiency of our supply chain to ensure strong product availability and fast fulfilment.

“While we recognise that consumer behaviours are evolving in the face of broader uncertainty across the world, by staying close to our customers and brand partners, we believe we can continue to lead with the right products, at the right time, in the right place. Our strong and agile multi-brand business model, underpinned by disciplined execution and a clear strategic focus, positions us well to navigate these challenges.”

Review of H126 Performance
Total sales below (in £m) include the results of Hibbett and Courier. JD Group completed the acquisition of Hibbett on 25 July 2024, and Courir on 27 November 2024. Organic sales growth excludes acquisitions and disposals, and is calculated at constant FX rates.

Schultz said, “Turning to our performance in the 26 weeks to 2 August 2025, we achieved sales of £5,940m, +18.0 percent on the comparative period, or +20.0 percent at constant FX rates. Excluding the two businesses acquired in FY25 (Hibbett and Courir), organic sales growth was +2.7 percent at constant FX rates, which includes a +5.2 percentpts benefit to sales from net new stores opened across the Group. We believe +2.7 percent is faster than the growth of our addressable markets, driven by market share gains in North America and Europe. Group LFL sales were -2.5 percent.

“Excluding Hibbett and Courir, the gross margin percent for the Group in H1 was 40bps lower YoY. This was largely driven by controlled price investments in the online offer to boost competitivity and increase engagement with online customers. Including acquisitions, the overall Group gross margin percent in H1 was 60bps lower YoY at 48.0 percent (H125: 48.6 percent).

“We are a highly cash generative business, with £546m of operating cash flow (after lease repayments) in H1 +5.0 percent YoY. Given the seasonality of our business, it is normal to see working capital outflows in the middle of the financial year, before normalising around the year-end. At the end of H1, we had net debt (before lease liabilities) on our balance sheet of £125m. We expect to move to a net cash position (before lease liabilities) by the year-end.”

Regional Commentary
Schultz said,  “North America is our largest market by sales, generating 39 percent of JD Group sales in H1, with Europe at 32 percent, the UK at 25 percent and Asia Pacific at 4 percent. LFL sales in H1 were resilient in Europe, supported by our sporting goods fascias in Iberia, Greece and Cyprus, and it was encouraging to see improved LFL trends quarter on quarter in both North America and Asia Pacific. In H1, we grew our market share in North America and Europe (source: Circana). In the UK, we see organic sales as a better sales KPI than LFL, given the ongoing evolution of our store footprint with ‘bigger and better’ stores. UK organic sales were -1.7 percent in H1, affected by tough prior year comparatives due to the Euro 2024 football tournament.”

Store Footprint
JD Sports ended H1 with 4,872 stores worldwide, compared with 4,850 at the start of the financial year. Across all fascias, 156 stores were opened and 131 stores were closed, which includes 32 store relocations. Three stores were disposed (within its Outdoor business) as we continued to optimise its store portfolio.

Store footprint We ended H1 with 4,872 stores worldwide, compared with 4,850 at the start of the financial year. Across all fascias, 156 stores were opened and 131 stores were closed, which includes 32 store relocations. Three stores were disposed (within our Outdoor business) as we continued to optimise our store portfolio.

Channel Commentary
Schultz said, “Delivering a world-class omnichannel experience for our customer remains one of our top priorities:

  • Sales from our 4,872 stores worldwide were 80 percent of Group sales in H1, at £4.7bn (+22.6 percent at constant FX rates). Organic store sales were +3.6 percent, with LFL -3.0 percent.
  • Online sales, which include click-and-collect orders and home delivery orders shipped from store, were 19 percent of Group sales in H1, at £1.1m (+11.1 percent at constant FX rates). Organic online sales were -1.6 percent.
  • North America saw a much-improved online sales performance in H1, supported by a better online range, focused marketing efforts and, to a lesser extent, the successful roll-out of a new e-commerce platform for the JD and Finish Line fascias. In the UK, where a higher proportion of our sales are from online relative to our other regions, online sales were lower YoY in H1. This was affected by the prevailing trading environment as well as the tough prior year comparatives noted above. In Europe, we made controlled price investments in our online offer, reflected in higher online traffic and conversion as the period progressed. This was supported by the ongoing roll-out of our ‘ship-from-store’ fulfilment model.
  • Other sales mainly relate to JD Gym memberships in the UK, and were 1 percent of Group sales in H1.”

Category Commentary
Schultz said, “Our business model is underpinned by our strong, agile and multi-brand assortment of products, delivering a ‘head-to-toe’ shopping experience for our customers. Our sales mix is as follows:

  • 62 percent footwear (H125: 60 percent). We are seeing a fundamental shift in the global footwear product cycle, given the transition between newer franchises and some significant ‘end of cycle’ product lines. Notwithstanding this, we saw strong growth across brands less affected by transition, which reflects the benefit of our agile, multi-brand model. The early signals for the new franchises (in terms of both product launches and the pipeline) are encouraging, and although small today, present an exciting longer-term opportunity for the Group.
  • 28 percent apparel (H125: 30 percent). The evolution of the apparel product cycle is very different compared with footwear. Our apparel proposition is in excellent shape, and we believe there is significant scope to leverage this for growth, particularly in North America where our apparel mix is relatively low compared to other regions.
  • 6 percent accessories (H125: 6 percent)
  • 4 percent other (H125: 4 percent), which includes outdoor living equipment and gym memberships.

In H1 we saw good underlying apparel sales, supported by a strong product offer, albeit we faced tough comparatives from replica shirt sales in the UK and Europe due to the Euro 2024 football tournament.

Footwear sales were generally impacted in all regions by the product cycle dynamics noted above. We saw an encouraging performance in newer footwear lines (especially performance-based lines). Footwear sales as a proportion of overall Group sales increased from 60 percent to 62 percent YoY, due to the category mix of our recently acquired businesses, Hibbett and Courir. On an organic basis (excluding Hibbett and Courir), footwear sales were slightly lower (c.-1 percent to £2.9bn) and apparel grew +c.6 percent to £1.6bn.”

US Tariffs
Schultz said, “US tariffs have the potential to affect our business across three key areas: directly through our own brand and licensed products, as well as goods not for resale (such as store fixtures and fittings); and indirectly via our brand partners and broader macroeconomic impacts on consumer sentiment.

“The direct exposure represents less than 10 percent of our sales in the US, and we have already taken effective steps to diversify sourcing. As a result, we do not consider the direct impact of tariffs on JD to be material.

On the indirect/brand side, we have spent several months closely monitoring the evolving tariff landscape and maintaining regular dialogue with our brand partners. In general, a significant proportion of their sourcing is concentrated in Southeast Asia, and we are seeing our partners take proactive steps across the supply chain to mitigate cost pressures and maintain competitive pricing. Where retail price increases have occurred, they have typically been targeted rather than applied uniformly.

“Overall, for JD Group, we anticipate the financial impact from US tariff exposure in the current financial year to be limited, supported in part by inventory purchased prior to the implementation of tariffs. Looking further ahead, uncertainty remains over broader tariff impacts as well as US consumer sentiment.”

Outlook and FY26 Guidance
Schultz said, “We remain cautious on the trading environment for the second half of the year, reflecting continued pressure on consumer finances, elevated unemployment risk, and the ongoing transition in the footwear product cycle. Despite these headwinds, we expect our full-year profit before tax and adjusting items (FY26 PBTAI) to be in line with current market expectations. We continue to monitor the potential impact of US tariffs. However, based on current assessments, we anticipate the financial impact from US tariff exposure in the current financial year to be limited.”

Image and Charts courtesy Hibbett/JD Sports