JD Sports’ pre-tax profit slides to £324 million in fiscal 2021

JD Sports Fashion plc (LON: JD) said on Tuesday that its pre-tax profit posted a decline in fiscal 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis that has so far infected more than 4.3 million people and caused over 127 thousand deaths.

JD Sports shares opened more than 1% up on Tuesday and gained another 1.5% in the next hour. Including the price action, the stock is now exchanging hands at £9.35 per share. In comparison, the British sports-fashion retail company had started the year 2021 at a much lower £8.14 per share.

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Despite recording a lower than expected full-year profit, the company expressed confidence that performance will pick up this year. In March, JD Sports took a 60% stake in Poland’s MIG.

JD Sports reports £6.17 billion of revenue

JD Sports said that its pre-tax profit printed at £324 million in the year that concluded on 30^th January. In comparison, its pre-tax profit stood at a higher £348.5 million in fiscal 2020. The sports-goods retailer had forecast a minimum of £400 million in full-year profit before tax in January.

The Bury-headquartered company generated £6.17 billion of revenue in fiscal 2021 versus the year-ago figure of a slightly lower £6.11 billion. The board declared 1.44 pence per share of a total dividend on Tuesday, compared to 0.28 pence per share last year.

In separate news from the United Kingdom, HSBC restricted customers from buying MicroStrategy shares on Monday.

JD Sports’ guidance for fiscal 2022

For fiscal 2022, JD Sports now expects its annual pre-tax profit to fall between £475 million and £500 million. Executive chairman Peter Cowgill commented on the financial update on Tuesday and said:

“A number of positive themes have been increasingly apparent through the year, which gives us confidence that, as we begin to emerge from the worst of the disruption, JD is at the pinnacle of the global sports fashion industry. We have a market-leading multichannel proposition which continues to enhance its relevance to consumers and has the necessary agility to progress in an environment where the retailing of international brands may see permanent global structural change.”

JD Sports Fashion plc performed only slightly upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of close to 6%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £9.64 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 47.97.