JD Sports Fashion Ups Profit Forecast

The U.K.'s third largest sports fashion retailer, JD Sports Fashion, has upped its profit forecast following strong Christmas and January trading.

"The positive sales uplift reported for the Christmas trading period has in fact been sustained during January," reports the business, which operates the JD, Scotts and Bank fascias. "As a consequence, management confidently expects that the group's profit before tax and exceptional items for the year ended Jan. 31, 2009, will marginally exceed current market expectations."

Preliminary full-year results are due on April 8.