JD Sports Comparable Sales Trend Improves On World Cup Boost

9th Jun 2010 07:35

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion PLC (JD.LN) Wednesday said comparable sales growth continued to improve in its most recent eight weeks' trading, boosted by demand for soccer World Cup-themed products. The firm said U.K and Ireland comparable retail sales rose 4.1% in the eight weeks to June 5, an improvement on the 2% growth it previously reported for the 10 weeks to April 10. JD Sports said the strong growth in its most recent eight weeks' trading has been driven by a 5.1% rise in comparable retail sales of sports fascias, offsetting a 1.2% fall in fashion fascias. It said sales of its sports fascias has been "positively influenced" in recent weeks by the soccer World Cup, which kicks off this week. Sales of its fashion fascias have also started to improve, and over the 18 weeks to June 5 comparable sales from its Bank fashion stores have risen 0.3%. JD Sports, which posts interim results on Sept. 21, said margins continue to be encouraging, with particularly satisfactory progress in fashion fascias. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 09, 2010 02:35 ET (06:35 GMT)