Pre-tax profits increase to €19.56m at JD Sports

Gordon Deegan

Pre-tax profits at the main Irish unit of sports retailer, JD Sports this year increased by four per cent to €19.56m.

New accounts for John David Sports Fashion (Ireland) Ltd show that the business recorded the increase in pre-tax profits as revenues rose by 14.5 per cent from €189.03 million to €216.44 million in the 12 months to the end of January 28th this year.

The sports retailer’s number of stores remained at 22.

The firm’s pre-tax profits of €19.56 million follow pre-tax profits of €18.76 million in the prior year and the company paid out an interim dividend of €30 million in the 12 months to the end of January 28th last.

The directors state that the company "will continue to utilise its store portfolio to improve market share and protect margin whilst exercising strong cost controls”.

They add that "with the support of the parent company, JD Sports Fashion Plc, the company continued to put in place mitigating activities to combat the impacts of the cost of living crisis”.

The business now has a 65,000 sq ft dedicated warehouse in the north-west of Dublin supplying both products to store and fulfilling online orders in the Republic of Ireland.

The company’s cost of sales increased from €100.5 million to €115.34 million while selling and administrative expenses rose from €66.22 million to €76.64 million. Administrative expenses reduced from €3.47 million to €3.33 million.

The company recorded operating profits of €21.1 million and interest costs of €1.59 million reduced profits to €19.56 million.

The retailer’s stores network here includes outlets in Athlone, Carlow, Drogheda, Dundalk, Waterford, Wexford, Galway, Limerick, Newbridge, Killarney, Cork and outlets across Dublin

The business enjoyed a post-tax profit of €16.9 million after incurring a €2.66 million corporation tax charge.

Numbers this year employed increased from 952 to 1,094 as staff costs rose from €12.99 million to €19.97 million.

The profit this year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €10 million.

At the end of January 2023, the firm's shareholder funds totalled €25 milion. The company’s cash funds increased from €59.64 million to €73.48 million.

Globally in the same year under review, JD Sports recorded revenues of £10.12m as its pre-tax profits increased from £947m to £991 million.

The company’s largest market is the combined ‘UK and Republic of Ireland’ accounting for £3.7 billion of revenues followed by North America where revenues of £3.1 billion were recorded.