JD Sports Fashion has issued a surprise announcement delaying its full-year results report that had been due on Wednesday.

Should we read anything sinister into that? Perhaps not. The announcement said: “The group… confirms it now intends to issue its full year results for the 53 weeks to 3 February 2024 on Friday, 31 May 2024, two days later than its previous planned date of 29 May 2024. 

“The group’s board confirms that it expects the results to be in line with the guidance provided in its FY24 Trading Update on 28 March 2024.”

So no material change to expectations then. But it does come as some surprise that a well-run company such as JD Sports should be late with its numbers. That’s the kind of issue we see more often with smaller companies that are about to unveil bad news.

The markets didn’t seem worried and the firm’s shares closed almost 5% higher on Tuesday, also rising slightly on Wednesday morning.

The company had earlier this year said its profits would come in tens of millions lower than had been previously expected as consumer spend proved sluggish and it was forced into a higher level of discounts than it had planned for.

In other news, this week the firm’s Chair Andy Higginson was one of scores of business leaders to sign an open letter backing the Labour Party and calling for political change in the UK. The general election is on 4 July.