JD Sports sees annual profit of at least £550m; To split CEO, chairman role

JD Sports Fashion said it was on track to deliver annual profits of at least £550m as it pledged to split the roles of chief executive and chairman and would consider paying back government furlough cash.

In a trading update ahead of what was expected to be a stormy annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, JD Sports said it would move to divide the role currently held by boss Peter Cowgill before the 2022 AGM.

The company said the current surge in cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant “is affecting our core customer demographic more than was the case previously”.

“Accordingly, we will consider repaying government support on payroll costs which we have received whilst stores have been temporarily closed during the current year,” JD Sports said.

“We will defer a final decision on this until there is certainty on both the full easing of restrictions and the consequences of any further lockdowns during our peak trading period this winter.”

Cowgill was given almost £6m in bonuses since February last year despite the company accepting more than £100m in government support while stores were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. He voluntarily took a 75% cut in his basic pay – which fell to £700,000 – for several months during the pandemic. His annual bonus was also reduced from £1.7m to £1.3m.

However, he also banked £3m during the year from a special bonus, half of which was paid in February 2020; a further £1.5m, which had originally been due for payment in October 2020, was paid in January this year.

The announcement on furlough repayments did not go down well with investors, with AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould calling it "disgraceful" and accused the company of "pushing its luck".

"It’s even more of an insult that it is still biding its time to make a firm decision or not whether to give back the money. This is an incredibly successful business which is making significant amounts of money. The furlough scheme was put in place to support companies during dark times, but JD Sports is one of many businesses which have thrived with online sales during the pandemic," said.

"Shareholders should be pushing for the company to pull up its socks and give that money back as well.”