Next first quarter sales come in ahead of expectations
Next has announced that its full price sales have come in ahead of guidance in the 13 weeks to 27 April with a 5.7% increase year-on-year.
The fashion and homewares retailer had previously forecast an uplift of +5%.
Next’s online full price sales grew by 8.8% in the period although sales at its high stores were flat.
The retailer said it is maintaining its guidance for a first half increase of 2.5%, which implies that sales in its second quarter will be down by 0.3%. This is a result of the same period last year benefiting from particularly warm weather from late May until the end of June.
Next is also maintaining its profit and sales guidance for the full year when it expects Next Group pre-tax profit to rise by 4.6% to £960 million and full price sales to edge up 2.5% to £4.9 billion.
Total group sales growth is expected to be higher with an increase of 6% to £6.2 billion due to the timing last year of Next’s acquisition of equity stakes in FatFace and Reiss.
Earlier this year, Next announced that group sales in the year to January 2024 had risen by 5.9% to £5.84 billion and that pre-tax profit had climbed by 5% to a record high of £918 million.
