JD Sports owner’s profits soar thanks to US shoppers spending stimulus cheques

Covid cash spent on athleisure gear and trainers helps boost annual profit expectations by 150m

The owner of JD Sports, Blacks Leisure and Millets has upgraded annual profit expectations by 150m after sales were boosted by US shoppers spending their Covid fiscal stimulus cheques on trainers and athleisure gear.

The retail group, which owns more than 3,000 stores in the UK, US, Europe and Asia, raised its target for the year to 750m after pretax profits soared to a record 364.6m in the six months to 31 July, almost nine times that of the same period a year before when retailers were hit by high street lockdowns around the world. Sales rose 56% to 3.9bn in the half year.