Shares in JD Sports Fashion Plc jumped more than 6% today despite a sales slide last year.
FTSE 100 company JD issued a warning last month of expected ‘muted’ growth in FY27 after reporting that sales were down 2.2% year on year for the 48 weeks to 3rd January 2026, and down 1.8% for the fourth quarter – which includes the crucial Christmas period.
After today’s rise the retailer’s share price stands at 86.78p, giving it a market capitalisation of £4.27 billion. It is now up 1.24% in the calendar year to date.
Last month JD announced a new global agreement with digital commerce platform provider commercetools to enhance the use of AI platforms.
The deal will allow customers to search for and purchase products directly through AI platforms such as Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, without leaving those apps.
The move comes as major AI firms in the US begin to enable direct purchasing ahead of a wider global rollout.
Launching first in the US, the London-listed retail giant will partner with commercetools and payments specialist Stripe to become the first retailer to deploy their joint Agentic Commerce Suite (ACS).
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The technology connects AI-driven product discovery directly to secure checkout and payments, enabling one-click purchases from within AI interfaces.
The business said it will also invest in optimising how its product content, pricing and inventory data is surfaced inside AI platforms, making it easier for customers to find JD stores and products through conversational search.
North America is the Greater Manchester-based company’s largest market, accounting for around 40% of global sales, and the agreement builds on the retailer’s recent re-platforming of its US eCommerce operations using commercetools.