JD Sports Christmas sales sprint ahead 10%

A bumper Christmas saw sales at sports and fashion retailer JD Sports sprint ahead by 10.6% and the company said it now expected full year headline profit before tax and exceptional items to beat expectations of £136m by up to 10%.

The company also said the termination of a project to replace its IT systems would lead to a one-off charge of £12m.

“With a stronger IT team now in place, and significant developments having been introduced to our current systems, we have concluded that we can manage further growth and change with more agility and lower cost using our internally developed systems and thereby minimising the change risk to the business,” JD said.

“In addition, we also expect there will be some writedown in the carrying value of intangible assets (acquired goodwill and fascia values) once our year end review has been completed.”