Athleisure Retailer JD Sports Undergoes Corporate Governance Rejig As Planned

JD Sports Fashion PLC JDSPY appointed Helen Ashton as the interim Non-Executive Chair and Kath Smith, senior independent director, as interim CEO as Peter Cowgill departed on May 25.
The athleisure retailer previously disclosed corporate governance rejig involving the split the role of CEO and Chair and conducting a search for CEO and Chair.
Alongside its much-delayed full-year results, JD justified multiple regulatory issues behind the higher board-level experience and greater internal scrutiny and control, the Financial Times reports.
JD has had several encounters with the UK's competition regulator.
The regulator slapped a £4.3 million penalty after snaps exposed Cowgill's meeting with Footasylum's chief Barry Bown in a Lancashire car park in 2021. At the time, the two companies were supposed to function independently, while the Competition and Markets Authority reserved antitrust concerns over JD's acquisition of Footasylum.
The regulator also alleged JD of fixing the prices of replica football kits. However, that investigation is yet to conclude.
JD also faced shareholder rebellions over executive pay.
Interestingly, JD reported its best-ever financial results, with FY22 sales growing by more than a third to £8.56 billion and pre-tax profit doubling to £947 million.
JD finished the year with net cash of £1.18 billion and declared a final dividend of £0.35 a share. JD expected a similar level of profit in FY23.
JD spent €95 million on a new warehouse in the Netherlands to supply stores in Europe and constructed a new facility in the UK to dispatch online orders.
JD expected the footwear crisis to resolve with the ongoing administrative and cost consequences of the loss of tariff-free, frictionless trade with the EU.

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