JD sports shareholders hope for progress in the midst of US consumer weaknesses

Sunday 24 August 2025 9:45
| Updated:

Sunday 24 August 2025 9:51

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JD Sports Investors will hope that the retailer can show signs of progress next week after sales are under pressure at the beginning of the year.

The impact of US tariffs and overall performance in the US will be very focused when providing a half -year trade update on Wednesday 27 August.

Stocks in the business have been beat a little higher over the past six months but still firmly down over the past year after a profit warning in January and extensive attention to consumer requests.

In previous updates in May, sportswear specialists listed in London revealed that sales like-like-like down two percent from the 1st quarter of May.

However, organic sales grew by 3.1 percent in the quarter because the opening of a new store helped compensate for soft demand from buyers.

In Britain and Europe, sales are slightly stronger after positive weather conditions at the beginning of the year.

Jonathan Pritchard, Analyst at Peel Hunt, said the business would face a “harder” comparison in the second quarter and highlight that “a broader global trend has not helped”.

He added that he was sure the company was “in a very good place” strategically and could benefit from the release of new products from Nike, because the main supplier partners tried to recover after this new weakness.

Another analyst, however, shows that this new problem in Nike and weak consumer sentiments in the US will present continuous challenges for JD Sports.

Danni Hewson, Head of Financial Analysis at AJ Bell, said: “The ongoing concern about the momentum (or lack of) in Nike, which faces more competition from people like On and Hoka, continues to weigh, even if Nike is not a JD Sports brand partner.

“Concerns about a broader trend in consumer expenditure and the impact of Trump’s tariffs also remain a problem.”

Sales in the US are much lower in the first quarter, so investors will hope that the company can point to an increase in the track even if there is pressure from tariffs.

BOS in JD previously warned that the price of goods and services in the US is likely to rise because of tariffs, which can result in price increases which can then weigh further based on demand.

Shareholders will also hope for any indication of the prospect of retailer profit, although it is likely to hold this until the renewal is more comprehensive next month.

This group is currently expected to express a profit of around £ 890 million for the current financial year, down a little in the previous year.

By Henry Saker-Clark, PA Business Editor