Following today’s release of JD Sports’ figures for the 26 weeks ending 2 August 2025; Pippa Stephens, senior analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view: “JD Sports’ performance remained muted in H1 FY2025/26, as while overall group revenue rose 18.0% to £5.9bn, this was driven by its acquisition of Hibbett and Courir last year, with its organic revenue growth reaching just 2.7%. This too was propped up by store openings, with like-for-like (l-f-l) sales falling 2.5%, and though this is partly due to struggles across the wider sportswear market as consumers’ budgets are squeezed amid macroeconomic challenges, it also highlights weaknesses within JD Sports’ offering. This has led the retailer to remain cautious in its outlook for the full year, anticipating that l-f-l revenue will stay below FY2024/25 levels, with its acquisitions made last year adding c.10% to total sales, and profit before tax and adjusting items staying in line with market expectations of between £853m and £914m. JD Sports is highly aware of the potential impact of US tariffs on its costs and consumer demand, but currently expects the effects to be minimal in the current financial year having already purchased inventory prior to the tariff implementation, however, its longer-term outlook remains more uncertain.
“Europe and Asia Pacific both exhibited the strongest organic growths in H1, each rising 6.0%. Europe was also the most resilient in l-f-l terms, declining just 0.3%, supported by increasing awareness among shoppers in the region, alongside its sporting fascias in Iberia, Greece and Cyprus. Its smallest region of Asia Pacific experienced a l-f-l decline of 2.4%, dragged down by Q1 when demand was impacted by the earthquake in Thailand, the timing of Chinese New Year and the US tariffs’ impact on tourism in South East Asia. While North America was the next best region in organic growth terms, rising 3.1%, it saw the biggest drop off in l-f-l sales, with a decline of 3.8%, highlighting the clear positive impact of store openings, with new JD flagships in Las Vegas and Vancouver. Organic sales in the UK fell 1.7%, while l-f-l sales fell 3.3%, with JD Sports blaming strong comparatives from the prior year due to the Euros 2024 football tournament. However, it will also have been hindered by the UK retail market remaining extremely challenging, causing it to struggle to capture consumer interest, despite the opening of JD’s largest ever store in Manchester in early June.
“The group’s core JD fascia saw the greatest organic uplift of 3.7%, however it was propped up by store openings, with l-f-ls dropping 3.0%. This can partly be blamed on its assortment and its heavy reliance on Nike, which has been struggling due to a lack of innovation. It will have also suffered from the diversion of spend towards direct-to-consumer channels, especially for in-demand running brands such as On and Hoka, as well as athleisure players like Vuori, Alo and Lululemon. Its Complementary Concepts division witnessed 1.1% organic growth and a l-f-l decline of 2.4%, now focusing on broadening its reach across more customers, geographies and categories, while its Sporting Goods & Outdoor division fell just 0.8% in organic terms and saw its l-f-l sales remain flat. In terms of the group’s category performance, when excluding Hibbett and Courir, its mix of clothing sales rose 1ppt to 31%, while footwear fell 1ppt to 58%, as the retailer transitioned from ‘end of cycle’ to newer footwear lines.”
