Peter Cowgill, executive chairman of the JD Sports Fashion group, told shareholders at their annual meeting earlier this week that the company has made a strong start for the first 19 weeks of its new fiscal year, started at the beginning of February. The company said it was still pleased with its growing turnover in Europe, although the weak euro would impact the margins of its JD stores outside the UK. Cowgill said that current expectations for earnings in the year until the end of January 2016 should be met.