JD Sports blames higher than normal levels of discounting and tough comparisons with last year for its fourth quarter sales growth falling to just 0.1%.

At its fourth quarter trading update, JD said that growth of 8.3% for the three months to February 3rd in Asia Pacific and 2.1% in North America more than offset a 3.2% decline in its core UK are Ireland business.

JD said that its January sales in particular were down year-on-year due to “elevated promotional activity in the market”,…