JD Sports posts better-than-expected sales Although the company's outdoor clothing brands Blacks and Millets are continuing to struggle, causing JD's outdoor business to amass operating losses of £8.9m in the half-year to August 3, the company said on Friday it is "pleased with very recent progress" in its outdoor businesses. The company said: "The result for the full year remains, as usual, substantially dependent on the sales and margin performance through the Christmas period and particularly in the last two weeks of December. Shares in the company have risen by 81pc since the start of the year, and jumped by 7pc to £13.45 off the back of the latest sales report. Freddie George, retail analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, said the trading update was "markedly better than expected." Investec analyst Kate Calvert added: "While Christmas is a very important period, this statement reassures that the core business is performing well and that outdoor is improving." JD Sports, which has more than 900 stores in the UK and across Europe and has benefited from the demise of JJB Sports, which went into administration in September 2012, will issue a post-Christmas trading update on January 10.