On the company’s second quarter 2025 earnings call on Thursday, JD Sports chief executive officer Régis Schultz told analysts that “Nike will be fine” following a question regarding the beleaguered brand’s new product innovations.
“They are doing the right thing,” Schultz added. “They are moving in the right direction. It just takes time to do that in the market, and that’s where we believe they are on the right path.”
This sentiment follows JD’s announcement this month that it has expanded its relationship with Nike – offering its Nike Connected Membership program to its U.S. customers. The move made JD the sportswear giant’s first global partner for the popular loyalty rewards program after successfully launching in the UK in 2022, the company said at the time.
All of this plays into the retailer’s winning strategy of expanding in the U.S. market, something that was even more evident in the company’s latest earnings release.
In a second quarter trading update on Thursday, the company reported that like-for-like sales grew 2.4 percent and organic sales growth of 8.3 percent in the period. First half like-for-like sales were up 0.7 percent and organic sales were up 6.4 percent.
As for quarter-on-quarter results, the company noted its trading improvement was driven primarily by the strength of JD Sports’ multi-brand operating model and softer comparatives with the previous year.
Regionally, growth was strongest in North America, up 5.7 percent, and Europe, up 3.0 percent, while the UK improved materially quarter-on-quarter. Organic growth was achieved in all regions, led by North America with 13.7 percent growth. All three main segments – JD, Complementary Concepts and Sporting Goods & Outdoor – achieved like-for-like growth and the JD segment benefitted from store openings to deliver 11 percent organic growth.
This earnings update comes weeks after JD Sports completed its acquisition of American retailer Hibbett in a deal with an enterprise value of $1.11 billion. In its trading update on Thursday, the company called Hibbett a “great addition” to its Complementary Concepts segment in North America and adds material scale and presence in the U.S. through its 1,179 stores.
The company noted that the acquisition also provides an enhanced platform for the mall-led, nationwide growth of the JD brand in North America through its efficient supply chain and strong back office.
During the first half, the company said it opened 85 new JD stores, which along with the Hibbett acquisition and the ongoing disposal of non-core stores, meant it ended the first half with 4,506 stores, up 1,189 from the start of the year.
“Our strategy is very clear,” Schultz told analysts on Thursday’s call. “We believe that there is a strong community market in the U.S. This is a major investment that we are making in the U.S., [aimed at] developing JD as a global brand.”
