UK’s JD Sports says discounting, cautious consumer to dent profit

LONDON (Reuters) -British sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion warned annual profit would come in at the lower end of its guided range after a tough October of discounting, unseasonable weather and consumer caution.

FTSE 100-listed JD, which sells Nike, Adidas, On, HOKA and other brands in Britain, Europe and the United States, said volatile trading last month dragged underlying sales down by 0.3% in its third quarter to Nov. 2.

The company said it believed demand had been suppressed in the U.S. ahead of the election in early November. Third-quarter underlying sales were down 1.5% in North America.

“The trading environment remains volatile,” CEO Regis Schultz said in a statement.

For the full financial year, JD said pretax profit would come in at the lower end of its 955 million pounds to 1.035 billion pounds range. In its 2023/24 year, it made 917.2 million pounds.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Jan Harvey and Paul Sandle)