Shares for JD Sports Fashion slipped over 5 percent on Wednesday following the U.K. retailer’s continued struggles amid a “challenging” environment.
Organic sales for the company in the first half of fiscal 2027 dipped 0.7 percent to 5.90 billion pounds, down from 5.94 billion pounds the same time last year.
Régis Schultz, chief executive officer of JD Sports Fashion, told analysts on the company’s first half earnings call that sales in the period include a 2.1 percentage point contribution from new selling space despite having over 100 fewer stores overall. Profit before tax and adjusting items in the first half was 282 million pounds, down from 351 million pounds in the first half of fiscal 2026.
The CEO blamed the company’s performance on the increase in youth unemployment and cost of living pressure, while the footwear product cycle continued to evolve into a highly promotional market.
“Our response to a maturing market and challenging trading condition is to control the controllables,” Schultz said on Wednesday’s call. “That means focusing on our customers, bringing them the best, latest and greatest product, investing in our omnichannel proposition, and maintaining tight discipline on our cost and capital.”
He added that the company remains committed to its five strategic priorities, which include strengthening and diversifying its product range; driving store productivity and optimization across the portfolio; completing global e-commerce replatforming; accelerating AI adoption; and taking data-driven customer personalization to the next level.
Turning to the company’s footwear performance, organic sales were down 3 percent in the first half of 2027 and account for 60 percent of the firm’s overall mix.
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