England's Euro 2008 flop hits expectations at JD Sports

The owner of retail chain JD Sports turned up the pressure on its rivals today by forecasting annual profits above market expectations.

John David Group said like-for-like sales rose 11.8% in the 44 weeks to December 1, but the company also warned that the last seven weeks of the period had seen a much lower rate of growth.

As well as the weaker consumer environment, firms in the sector have been hit by a fall-off in demand for replica football kit, following England's Euro 2008 elimination.

JJB Sports issued a profits warning in September, while Sports World owner Sports Direct International followed suit last month.

Today's update prompted Investec Securities to upgrade its full-year profits forecast to £34m (€47.9m), from £30m (€42.3m) previously targeted. The company achieved a profits figure of £25.1m (€35.3m) last year.

JD said: "The board anticipates that profit before tax and exceptional items for the current financial year will exceed current market expectations, although the Christmas trading period remains critical to the end result."

While JD Sports operates in the same sector as JJB and Sport Direct, it is much less reliant on replica kit sales.

In September, JD Sports overcame the industry-wide slump in summer sales after it reported a more than doubling of half-year pre-tax profits. The sportswear and fashion retailer posted underlying profits up by 158% to £8.1m (€11.4m) in the six months to July 28 and said trading had been "highly satisfactory" since then.

The group, which has around 400 stores, started in 1981 when John David Sports opened with one shop in Bury.

Today's like-for-like sales figure matched the rate reported in the 34 weeks to September 22, with growth of 12.4% coming from the company's sports outlets and a rise of 2% achieved by its fashion stores.