JD Sports Fashion has said that it expects limited impacts from President Trump’s tariffs this year, but warned that higher prices could knock consumer confidence in the longer term.

Régis Schultz, the retailer’s chief executive, said it had “not seen a big impact” from the American tariff regime, and “direct exposure” accounted for less than 10 per cent of its sales in the US.

“We believe that for the coming of this year there is no big impact and, for the moment, we have not seen a big impact on the consumer when we [did] targeted retail price increases.”

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However, the sportswear giant added that the limited impact was in part a result of buying stock before tariffs came into force and warned that higher prices could begin to affect consumer confidence among American shoppers.

Shares in the FTSE 100 retailer edged down a little under 1 per cent to close at 88p on Wednesday after it reported a decline in half-year profit and warned that annual sales would be down compared with its last financial year.

Operating profit at the company, which sells a range of sports brands including Nike and Adidas, fell 8.2 per cent to £369 million in the six months to the end of July, down from £402 million over the same period in 2024 but ahead of analysts forecasts of between £340 million and £350 million.

At the statutory pre-tax level, profits rose 9.5 per cent to £138 million from £126 million last year when the group took a hit from the closure of its distribution centre in Derby.

Like-for-like sales fell 2.5 per cent globally to £5.94 billion over the 26 weeks to August 2. Sales in North America, its biggest market, dropped 3.8 per cent.

The second biggest fall in sales was in the UK, where trading continues to be challenging amid the cost of living crisis, declining 3.3 per cent to £1.46 billion. JD Sports said weaker trading in the region was also affected by tough prior-year comparatives due to the Euro 2024 football tournament.

Asia-Pacific like-for-like sales fell 2.4 per cent. Schultz said the Asia-Pacific region was most heavily affected by Trump’s tariffs, but that shoppers had started to spend again after the “shock” of the announcement. “We had really six weeks of difficult trading where you create such uncertainty in Asian countries, and Chinese tourists stopped travelling,” he said.

JD Sports said it expected full-year results to be in line with City expectations despite warning of “continued pressure on consumer finances, elevated unemployment risk, and the ongoing transition in the footwear product cycle”.

Schultz insisted that younger shoppers, its key consumers, were still spending despite financial pressures. “If the product is good, the price is not an issue,” he said, adding that the Bank of Mum and Dad had not dried up.

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The FTSE 100 company, which has more than 500 shops in Britain, has had a turbulent few years. The UK’s largest sportswear retailer has struggled due to a slowdown in athleisure after the pandemic boom, problems at Nike, its biggest footwear retailer, and heightened consumer caution. Shares in the company have declined 42 per cent over the past year.

JD Sports is betting on the global “running boom” to help drive sales in the lead-up to Christmas.

“Running is becoming a huge category because customers are taking what is designed to be a performance running product to their everyday lives, to walk in the streets,” Schultz said, adding that the retailer had seen strong sales from brands include On, Hoka, Salomon, Nike Vomero 18 and Adidas Evo. About 80 per cent of its trainer product mix is running shoes.

Analysts at Panmure Liberum said JD Sports’ results “did not make for pleasant reading”, but were in line with expectations. Alison Lygo, at Deutsche Bank, noted that the statement contained “little in the way of surprises”.