JD Sports Fashion Plc, the U.K.s third-largest sporting-goods retailer, said for a second time this year that earnings will beat analysts estimates. The “positive sales uplift” reported for the Christmas holiday was sustained in January, the Bury, England-based company said. Management “confidently expects” to report pretax profit for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 that “marginally” exceeds estimates.
Same-store sales rose 1% in the companys sports stores and 13% in its fashion outlets in the five weeks ended Jan. 3.
Analysts had expected pretax profit before one- time items of about 48 million pounds ($69.1 million) for fiscal 2009, up from the prior years 43.4 million pounds.
