JD Sports Fashion’s Q3 update on Thursday came with a forecast of full-year profit at the lower end of market expectations on the back of weaker macro and consumer indicators in recent weeks.

And while it also reported a 1.7% fall in quarterly like-for-like sales, that was an improvement on the previous quarter’s 2.1% drop as its key US market picked up.

So let’s look at the headline numbers. Total Q3 sales including acquisitions rose 8.1% at constant currency rates (CCY) but that was less than the 15.7% uplift for the first nine months of the year.

But looking at the ongoing business, overall group sales on a like-for-like (LFL) basis fell 1.7% to £2.953 billion and rose 2.4% on an organic basis. The LFL was better than the nine-month drop of 2.2% although on an organic basis for the

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