JD Sports Stumbles in Comparable Sales but Rides High on Expansion Push

The British group JD Sports is benefiting from openings and acquisitions. The company, which specializes in the distribution of sports equipment and owns the Spanish Sprinter, closed the nine months of the current fiscal year up, although like-for-like sales are negative.

According to the company, sales at the end of the first nine months of the year (period ending November 1st) stood at 8,893 million pounds ($11.65 billion), representing growth of 2.5%.

These sales include the impact of the acquisitions of Hibbet (completed in July 2024) and Courir (in November 2024). Comparable sales declined by 2.2% in the first three quarters of the year.

In the third quarter, the trend was similar. With total sales of 2,953 million pounds ($3.87 billion), organic growth was 2.4%, while comparable sales were negative 1.7%.

JD Sports posted organic growth of 2.5% in the third quarter, but a decline of 2.2% on a comparable basis

By markets, the group reported sales in North America for the first nine months of 3,397 million pounds ($4.45 illion), representing organic growth of 3% and a decrease of 2.9% on a like-for-like basis. The company highlighted a slowdown in the footwear business, despite the “good momentum” in the running category. The company is continuing the transformation of the Finish Line chain into JD, “where promotional intensity is higher than usual”.

In Europe (excluding the United Kingdom), the company’s second largest market in terms of turnover, JD posted sales of 2,954 million pounds ($3.87 billion), up 5.2% in organic terms and down 0.6% like-for-like. In the United Kingdom, the group recorded sales of 2,181 million pounds sterling ($2.18 million), a decline of 1.8% in organic terms and 3.3% on a like-for-like basis.

We continued to make good progress on our strategic objectives during the quarter, even though the market environment remains challenging,“ said Regis Schultz, the group’s CEO; Our multi-brand, multi-sector approach and our agility in responding to changing customer trends are helping us to offset the well-known consumer and industry headwinds.

The company, which did not detail its profitability performance, said that, excluding the Courir acquisition, gross margin in the third quarter was 30 points below that recorded in the same period of 2024. For the first nine months, the drop amounted to forty points.

Gross margin in the third quarter was thirty points lower than in the same period of 2024

“As for the near-term outlook, recent indicators show a gradual weakening of external macroeconomic and consumer data in our key markets,“ the company said. “We are particularly mindful of the pressures facing our key customers, including rising unemployment rates and near-term volatility around consumer confidence,“ it has added; “as a result, and given the importance of our peak period of trading activity in the fourth quarter, we expect fiscal 2026 profit before tax and adjustments to be at the low end of current market expectations.

JD Sports is one of Europe’s leading sports equipment groups, with a growing presence in the United States, developed from acquisitions. With the JD chain as its flagship, the company owns Sprinter, Sport Zone, Go Outdoors, Blacks, Courir or Hibbet.

Despite the company’s aggressive strategy of growth through acquisitions in recent years, the company’s revenues continue to depend heavily on JD. At the end of the first nine months of the year, JD contributed nearly 62% of total business.