Christmas Trading Statement

RNS Number : 7936L

JD Sports Fashion Plc

14 January 2016

 

14 January 2016

JD Sports Fashion Plc

Christmas Trading Statement

JD Sports Fashion Plc (the 'Group'), the leading retailer of sports, fashion and outdoor brands, today announces an update on performance following the Christmas trading period.

Following the positive trading update released on 3 December 2015, we are pleased to report that trading in the critical Christmas period has remained very positive overall with like for like store sales in all the core Sports Fashion fascias, including those in Europe, increasing by 10.6% in the five weeks to 2 January 2016.

Given the continued strength in the core Sports Fashion fascias, the Board now expects that the headline profit before tax and exceptional items for the current financial year is likely to exceed current consensus market expectations of £136m by up to 10%.

The Board has taken the decision not to continue with a project to replace the Group's core systems. This project was started when we believed that our current systems required changing to manage growth and change in the business.However, with a stronger IT team now in place, and significant developments having been introduced to our current systems, we have concluded that we can manage further growth and change with more agility and lower cost using our internally developed systems and thereby minimising the change risk to the business. The termination of this project will result in a one off exceptional charge this year of approximately £12 million to write off the capitalised work done to date of which £10m was incurred in prior years. In addition, we also expect there will be some writedown in the carrying value of intangible assets (acquired goodwill and fascia values) once our year end review has been completed.

The Group will make its Preliminary Results Announcement for the 52 weeks ending 30 January 2016 on 13 April 2016.

Peter Cowgill, Executive Chairman, commented:

"I am delighted to report that the exceptional performance in the year to date has continued during the key Christmas period. This is particularly pleasing given the very strong comparatives in the core Sports Fashion fascias in the prior two years. This performance particularly reflects the increasing strength of the JD Fascia and our continuing commitment to delivering a unique and often exclusive sports and fashion premium brand offer which enthuses and excites both customers and suppliers.

I would like to thank everybody involved in delivering this excellent performance."

Enquiries:

JD Sports Fashion Plc                                                                   Tel: [phone]

Peter Cowgill, Executive Chairman

Brian Small, Chief Financial Officer

MHP Communications                                                                Tel: [phone]

Andrew Jaques

Barnaby Fry

Gina Bell

 

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