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JD Sports has announced that it is beginning a share buyback programme for the 2027 financial year (FY27) that will return £200m to its shareholders, a move it says aims to reduce the total number of shares it has in circulation.
The global retailer of sports apparel and footwear said the scheme will start right away, first involving the company buying back its own shares (each worth 5p) with a total value of up to £100m. This first phase is expected to finish by 31 July 2026, which is the end of the first half of its FY27.
To carry out the first phase of the buyback, the company revealed it has signed a binding agreement with Merrill Lynch International (also known as BofA Securities), who will buy its shares on the London Stock Exchange.
The firm added that BofA Securities will decide when and how to buy the shares on its own, but that it must follow certain agreed-upon rules in advance and that the agreement can be ended in certain customary circumstances.
Any shares bought under the programme are set to be transferred to JD and then either cancelled or kept by it for later use (held in treasury).
The company said its shareholders approved the buy back of up to 515,475,677 shares at its Annual General Meeting on 2 July 2025 and that so far, 368,613,803 of those shares are still available to be bought back.
It added that this approval will expire at the end of 31 July 2026, or earlier if the company’s 2026 Annual General Meeting takes place before then. It said that at that meeting, it expects to ask shareholders to renew this approval.
JD intends to announce any shares bought under the scheme by 7:30 am on the next business day after the purchase takes place.
