Sluggish UK and Europe offset “resilient” US sales for JD Sports

JD Sports has faced some struggles in recent periods but in its Q4 update on Wednesday it said it saw “resilient” peak trading against a tough consumer backdrop and expects full-year profit to be in line with current market expectations.

Yet that doesn’t mean the overall numbers were positive. In fact like-for-like (LFL) sales across the group fell by 1.8% in the nine weeks to 3 January, although they increased 1.4% on an organic basis. In the 48 weeks to 3 January LFL sales had fallen by a larger 2.1% LFL but organic sales had also risen by a larger 2.2%.

The retailer highlighted improved LFL sales trend in its largest market, North America, offset by weaker LFL trends in Europe and the UK.

It also spoke of continued resilience in apparel sales reflecting the strength of the product range, but “softness in footwear, as expected, given end-of-cycle product line headwinds, despite positive momentum in running”.

And it said it’s staying focused on delivery against its strategic objectives with the rollout of new e-commerce platforms in Europe and the UK set to start this year “following successful implementations in the US and Italy, and automation ramping up at Heerlen distribution centre for JD Europe store replenishment”.

CEO Régis Schultz said: “Overall sales during the peak period were in line with our expectations, against a volatile consumer backdrop. Black Friday saw strong customer engagement across all regions, but demand softened in the first half of December, particularly in Europe and the UK. We responded decisively in the final weeks of the period by choosing to make targeted price investments, and we saw improved sales in the immediate run-up to Christmas Day and the period after, demonstrating the strong customer appeal of JD and its complementary fascias, in a challenging market.”

Regional differences

The return to growth in the US market is clearly encouraging but the volatile trading backdrop — with new tariff announcements this week — is clearly a hurdle to be navigated.

So let’s look more closely at closely at those individual regional performances in Q4.

North America, which accounted for 39% of Q4 sales so far, saw sales rising 1.5% LFL and 5.3% organic. Excluding standalone Finish Line stores, North America LFL sales rose 4.1%, with the overall performance supported by a good Black Friday and successful delivery of new product launches.

It saw a resilient performance in footwear, driven by continued momentum in the running category and strong demand in new retro basketball product launches, partially offset by the softness in end-of-cycle product lines.

The strong online performance across all key chains, was supported by better online ranges, focused marketing, and controlled price investments particularly on finishline.com.

Conversion to JD of the Finish Line chain (183 standalone stores remaining) is on track, but market-driven promotional intensity there remains higher than normal in the short term.

In Europe, which made up 32% of Q4 sales, LFLs were down 3.4% and organic sales up only 0.9%. Sales trends were impacted by a cautious consumer environment, with higher promotional participation around Black Friday and the peak holiday season. Trading in Germany remained challenging, with weaker early‑December sales in France, Spain and Italy prior to improved trends in the final weeks of the period.

Apparel was resilient, supported by a stronger product offer and demand in outerwear. Footwear performance reflected event-driven demand and continued momentum in running. Online strength was supported by ongoing momentum in ‘ship-from-store’ sales and controlled price investments made in the online offer earlier this financial year.

The UK accounted for 25% of sales and was down 5.3% LFL and 4.8% organic. The weaker sales versus Q3 came against a volatile consumer backdrop, with Black Friday and peak holiday season event-driven demand more than offset by weakness in early December.

Apparel sales saw good momentum in women’s product ranges and outerwear. But there was continued softness in footwear, partially offset by sales of running lines.

Its UK online business is a higher proportion of the sales mix versus other regions and stayed promotional. But LFLs were better in stores, helped by good conversion, despite lower footfall.

Meanwhile Asia Pacific is a much smaller market, accounting for only 4% of sales. But its 2.8% LFL and 9.6% organic sales growth against tough comparisons was encouraging. It saw a good performance across footwear and apparel, and strong online sales growth.

Tough times ahead

Based on its performance so far for the FY26 year that’s nearly over, JD Sports expects profit before tax and adjusting items (PBTAI) to be in line with current market expectations.

But while it had earlier expected the global sportswear market would likely grow at 2%-3% per annum, on average, over the medium term, for FY27, it said “we currently anticipate a period of muted market growth”.

It’s accelerating initiatives across marketing, ranging, digital, data and loyalty, AI, and store optimisation to further strengthen its customer proposition and “will maintain our core trading disciplines, but will continue to implement controlled price investments (which we expect will be weighted more towards H1 27) in order to stay connected with the short-term market and consumer dynamics”.