JD Sports, Britain’s biggest sports retailer, has issued another profit warning, blaming a tough market, while the online grocer Ocado reported its best Christmas ever.
Régis Schultz, the JD chief executive, said “market headwinds were higher than we anticipated”.
Despite a strong Christmas, with like-for-like revenue in December up 1.5%, JD sales are flat in its financial year so far, and are expected to show no growth for the year as a whole. As a result, the retailer expects full-year profit before tax to come in between £915m and £935m. In November, it said profits would be at the lower end of its previous range of between £955m and £1.03bn.
Shoe sales have grown and outperformed clothing, and JD’s stores did better than online sales, it said.
Ocado Retail – a joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer – won more customers after lowering more prices through its "big price drops", and matching prices on 10,000 like-for-like products with Tesco.
Ocado’s retail revenue climbed by 17.5% to £715.8m in the 13 weeks to 1 December, up from 15.5% growth in the previous quarter, as active customer numbers increased by 12.1% to 1.12 million.
In financial markets, the US dollar is hovering near its highest level in more than two years, as traders dialled back rate cut expectations after a strong jobs report underscored the strength of the US economy. They are now forecasting just one quarter point rate cut from the Federal Reserve this year.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six other major currencies, has edged 0.06% higher to 109.5, not far from the 26-month high of 110.17 it touched yesterday.
The pound has risen by a smidgen, trading 0.16% higher at $1.2220 while the euro is up by a similar amount, at $1.0260. Sterling has had a tough few days, falling to a 14-month low as government bond yields rose sharply, reflecting markets’ concerns about the outlook for the UK’s public finances.
Oil prices have slipped but remain near four-month highs, as Chinese and Indian buyers seek new suppliers after the US government imposed tougher sanctions on Russian oil. Brent crude futures fell by 46 cents to $80.55 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude lost 34 cents to $78.48 a barrel.
ING analysts said: "A large portion of Russia’s shadow tanker fleet has been sanctioned, making it more difficult for Russia and buyers to circumvent the G-7 price cap. These sanctions have the potential to take as much as 700,000 barrels per day of supply off the market, which would erase the surplus that we are expecting for this year."
The agenda
• 8.30am GMT: Bank of England deputy governor Sarah Breeden speaks on "Financial stability and too big too fail" in Zurich
• 2.30pm GMT: UK’s business and trade committee questions Frasers, Evri, Deliveroo and Uniqlo on the impact of gig-economy style self-employment and zero-hours contracts
• 2.30pm GMT: US producer prices for December
We'll be tracking all the main events throughout the day … |
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