Next raises guidance after strong Christmas trading
Next has seen its full price sales climb by 10.6% in the lead-up to Christmas.
This compares to the retailer’s guidance of 7% growth for the nine week period ending 27 December.
Sales growth in the UK slowed but still came in at 5.9% compared to Next’s guidance of +4.1% as it benefited from higher stock levels than last year when supplier deliveries were delayed by disruption in Bangladesh and global freight networks.
Meanwhile, international sales rose by 38.3% online driven by an increase in profitable marketing expenditure and sales through Zalando coming in higher than anticipated.
Subscribe to TRBCommenting on its end of season sale, Next said the amount of stock was up 5% on the previous year but this was offset by better than expected clearance rates.
The performance across the fourth quarter period means the retailer is increasing guidance for pre-tax profit for the year to January 2026 by £15 million to £1.15 billion.
It has also upped its guidance for the year ending January 2027 with full price sales growth forecast to rise by 4.5% and pre-tax profit expected to be up 4.5% to £1.2 billion.
