JD banks on fashion success

JD said pre-tax profits before exceptional items increased to 67.4m in the year to January 30, up from 53.6m last year.

The firm said it had proved resilient "in the face of less than favourable economic conditions and exchange rates".

Like-for-like sales, which were 2.5 per cent higher last year, have slowed to 2 per cent in the 10 weeks to April 10, but the firm said margins in its fashion business had improved.

"We recognise the increasing challenges of strong comparatives and the current economic and fiscal threats to consumers' expenditure," the company said.

JD said current trading in the UK and Ireland was "encouraging". In its sports division total revenue increased 10 per cent to 615.5m in the year, while like-for-like sales grew 2.3 per cent.

The firm has 345 JD and Size? outlets as well as 75 branches of sports shoe retailer Chausport in France, which it bought last May.

JD said it was particularly pleased with improved margins in the division, helping operating profits before exceptionals rise to 64.1m.

It attributed its success to stock management, its own brand strength and "competitor failures and weaknesses".

JD has stood out among its struggling rivals in the economic downturn, partly due to its fashion focus rather than a dependence on replica football kit sales.

The firm's fashion brand Bank, which is mainly based in the North and Midlands and sells branded items aimed at teenagers and those in their twenties, saw operating profits before exceptional items rise to 3m, compared to 1.2m the previous year.

The number of Bank stores grew from 54 to 65 last year and JD said it is expected to be the "core" of future growth in its fashion business.

Scotts, JD's other outlet in this division, sells branded fashion to younger men and has 38 stores mainly in the North and Midlands.

JD said the chain, which made an operating profit before exceptionals of 300,000 in 2009, had made a "relatively disappointing" start to the new year and the management team had consequently been "strengthened".