Sportswear seller JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON:JD.) put the Rochdale warehouse scandal behind it to report a sparkling trading Christmas performance.
The group said headline profit before tax for the year to the end of January 2017 should be up to 15% ahead of current market expectations of £200mln.
Cantor Fitzgerald responded by upping its full-year forecast to £225mln from £200mln, and upped the target price to 380p from 340p.
JD’s shares rose 9% to 354p on the results.
The group had set the bar high in the first half of its financial year (six months to end-July), with year-on-year like-for-like (LFL) sales growth in its stores of around 10%, but it said it had managed to maintain this pace in the second half of the year.
"I am delighted to report that we have maintained our excellent momentum from the first half of the year. Whilst we acknowledge that it would be unreasonable to expect like-for-like sales growth to be maintained at recent levels for a fifth consecutive year, we are confident that both domestically and internationally, our unique and often exclusive sports fashion premium brand offer provides a solid foundation for future development,” said Peter Cowgill, executive chairman of JD Sports.
Cantor Fitzgerald described it as “another excellent result”, especially as the retailer was going up against tough numbers from a year earlier.
“JD has once again confirmed its leadership and operational effectiveness in the market. The core UK Sports division is carrying strong momentum as it continues to advance its already best in class sports apparel and footwear offer. JD is now fully recognised by the leading global sportswear brands as a major European partner and player and the opportunity for further international growth in Europe and beyond is significant,” the Cantor retail team said.
Shore Capital’s George Mensah was also impressed with the performance.
“We believe this most likely reflects a continuation in strong full price sell through within the core trading fascia and investors can be encouraged by the performance of the business during the period,” Mensah said.