JD Sports Fashion to increase payout as sales rise amid 'muted market'

JD Sports Fashion PLC on Thursday reported a ‘resilient’ year with sales rising in a ‘muted’ market, saying it will increase its shareholder returns despite lower profit.

JD Sports shares were up 5.8% to 71.94 pence early Thursday in London. It was the top gainer in the FTSE 100 index, itself down 0.7%.

The Lancashire, England-based sports and outdoor wear retailer said pretax profit fell 12% to £629 million in the financial year that ended January 31 from £715 million in financial 2025. Basic earnings per share fell 9.2% to 8.63 pence from 9.50p.

The decline in profit was despite revenue rising 11% to £12.66 billion from £11.46 billion. Revenue was up 12% at constant currency. However, JD Sports incurred higher operating costs and paid more interest on lease liabilities.

‘We delivered a resilient performance, achieving organic sales growth of 2.1% despite tough market conditions,’ Chief Executive Regis Schultz said, citing the retailer’s ‘customer?led focus, alongside disciplined cost and capital management’.

Free cash flow rose 36% to £462 million from £339 million. On the back of this, JD Sports declared a 0.87 pence per share final dividend, up from 0.67p a year before. This increased its full-year dividend by 20% to 1.20p from 1.00p.

The company also said it will start a rolling annual share buyback worth £200 million. The first tranche of this, worth £100 million, will be completed in the first half of financial 2027.

Turning to financial 2027, JD Sports said first-quarter organic sales were flat annually and down 2.3% on a like-for-like basis. Within like-for-like sales, Europe was down 4.2% and the UK down 4.0%. North America was down 0.6%, though up 0.4% excluding Finish Line, whose stores are being converted to the JD brand. Asia Pacific was up 5.2%.

Looking ahead, JD Sports widened its financial 2027 guidance range for profit before tax and adjusting items to between £750 million and £850 million. This profit measure was £852 million in financial 2026, down 7.7% from financial 2025. Free cash flow in financial 2027 is expected to be £460 million to £520 million.

‘Whilst we continue to expect muted market growth in FY27, we remain confident in JD Group’s medium?term trajectory, underpinned by our strong brand partnerships and agile, multi?brand model,’ CEO Schultz said.

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