In the increasingly Darwinian world of high-street retailing, the fittest players may well be jogging along in a pair of trainers they bought at JD Sports. While all around it rival shops have been warning on profits and slashing prices just to stay alive, this sportswear fashion business has reported impressive underlying sales growth and promised that its annual results will be at the top end of City expectations.
Yet while the performance of JD Sports, and its share price, is bordering on phenomenal, there is an uncomfortable amount of detail about its underlying numbers that investors have to take on trust.
JD Sports was set up as a single shop in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1981 by David Makin and John Wardle. It has