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.”
