British sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion said on Thursday it "expected full-year headline profit before tax to beat market expectations on continued growth in comparable store sales, sending its shares to a record high," according to Rahul B. of REUTERS. The company said that "profit before tax and exceptional items will exceed the consensus market expectation" of £200M ($243.4M) by up to 15% in the financial year ending Jan. 28. JD Sports reported a 73% "jump" in first-half pretax profit to a record £77.4M ($94.2M). JD Sports posted pretax profit of £157.1M ($191.2M) for the previous financial year (REUTERS, 1/12). In Glasgow, Scott McCulloch reported JD Sports said that "positive trading reported in the first half has been maintained through the second half of the year," with like-for-like sales growth at around 10% in the 49 weeks to Jan. 7. Shares in JD Sports Fashion were up 8.6% in mid-morning trading on Thursday. JD Sports will publish preliminary results for the 52 weeks to Jan. 28 on April 11 (DAILY RECORD, 1/12).
