JD Sports remains “cautious” as Q2 sales dip

British sportswear retailer JD Sports has stated that organic sales improved for Q2 2025 in North America and Europe, while sales in the UK declined, affected by tough comparisons with the same quarter last year, when the company benefited from the Euro 2024 football tournament.

In its Q2 statement for the 13 weeks to August 2, JD Sports reported that total group organic sales increased 2.2 percent to 3.1 million pounds, down 3 percent on a like-for-like basis.

The quarter was driven by tough market conditions in the UK, with total sales of 806,000 pounds, with like-for-like sales down 6.1 percent, and organic sales dipping 4.5 percent. This was mainly attributed to how well the retailer did during the summer of sport, including Euro 2024 and the Olympics, with the Women’s Euros obviously not having the same impact.

For Europe, total sales hit 1 million pounds, with organic sales up 5.4 percent, and like-for-like sales down 1.1 percent, while North America’s total sales were 1.1 million pounds, up 4.8 percent in organic sales and down 2.3 percent in like-for-like sales.

Regis Schultz, chief executive of JD Sports, said in a statement: "We are making strong progress in developing our omnichannel customer proposition, store footprint and supply chain, and we are controlling our costs and cash effectively. I am proud of all our teams across the globe for their energy and focus against tough trading conditions.

"For Q2, in North America we saw an improved performance following the deferral of several product launches from Q1, along with stronger sales trends in apparel and online. In both Europe and the UK, we were annualising tough comparators from the Euros football tournament last year, but still saw a good underlying performance in apparel and from newer footwear lines.”

JD Sports continues to grow its market share in North America and Europe

JD Sports said it was a “resilient performance” in North America, its largest regional market, accounting for 36 percent of Q2 sales, led by JD and DTLR fascias, helped by new openings in Q1 in Las Vegas and Vancouver. It also reported a “good performance” in newer footwear lines, following a shift in the product launch schedule from Q1, and a “strong performance” in apparel, even though it is a smaller proportion of its category mix in the region.

For the UK and Europe, which represent 26 percent and 36 percent of Q2 sales, respectively, the regions were driven by sales in apparel, performance-based footwear, and value-oriented footwear styles, especially for women and juniors. JD Sports also adds that it has reported “strong results” from its new Trafford Centre store in Manchester, which opened in June to mark the retailer's largest store to date.

JD Sports did note that it has made “strong progress” against strategic objectives across omnichannel customer proposition, store footprint, supply chain and North America operations, and it was maintaining trading disciplines with controlled price investments, particularly in online.

On overall trading conditions through Q2, JD Sports said it remains “cautious” given the current pressures on “consumer finances, unemployment risk, and the ongoing shift in the footwear product cycle,” but added that it expects to be in line with “current market expectations”.

In relation to tariffs, the sportswear retailer added, it does not consider any direct impacts of US tariffs on JD to be material; however, it would continue to monitor indirect impacts affecting its suppliers and partners.

Schultz added: "Across our regions and fascias, in general, we see a resilient consumer, albeit very selective on their purchases. We therefore remain cautious on the trading environment going into H2. For our FY26 profit before tax and adjusting items, we expect to be in line with current market expectations, before any indirect impact of US tariffs, which we continue to work through.

"We are well placed to continue growing our market share in the key growth regions of North America and Europe, and confident about the medium-term growth prospects for our industry. Reflecting this, we are reaffirming our commitment to enhanced shareholder returns, and announcing today a new 100 million pounds share buyback following the successful completion of the first 100 million pounds programme last month."