JD Sports has said its UK stores are "likely" to be shut until at least Easter.
The sportswear retailer also said closures of its stores in other countries are "possible at any time" as it warned that Covid-19 continues to create an uncertain outlook.
However, it said its profits for the current financial year will be "significantly ahead" of forecasts amid strong customer demand.
The company told shareholders that it expects to post a headline pre-tax profit of at least £400 million for the year to January 30, surpassing previous expectations of around £295 million.
JD Sports said it was buoyed by "robust" demand in the second half of the year, including during the key months of November and December.
Total revenues, on a like-for-like basis, rose by more than 5% in the 22 weeks to January 2 compared with the same period last year.
READ MORE: Major student accommodation provider offers rent discount
The retailer said customers "readily switched" between its stores and online business in the run-up to Christmas.
JD Sports warned that the pandemic means there is still considerable uncertainty but said it expects profits in the next financial year to be between 5% and 10% higher than the current year.
In a statement to the stock market, it said: "Looking ahead, it is clear that operational restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic will also be a material factor through at least the first quarter of the year to January 22 2022.
"Whilst we are confident that we have the proposition to continue to attract consumers throughout this period, the process to scale down activity in stores and scale up the digital channels, often at extremely short notice, presents significant challenges.
"We are indebted to all of our colleagues in our different territories who have had to adopt new ways of working."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel