Next sales up 4.5% in first quarter
Next has reported that its full price sales were ahead of its internal forecast in its first quarter and rose by 4.5% year-on-year .
The fashion and homewares retailer put the performance in the 13 weeks to 27 April down to the unseasonably warm weather over the Easter trading period which helped its physical stores.
However, full price sales in its stores were down 3.6% in the period although online sales climbed by 11.8%.
Despite the over performance, Next said it is not revising its sales and profit guidance for the full year.
In a statement, the retailer said: “We do not currently believe that the over performance of the first quarter can be extrapolated through to the rest of the year. The over performance in the first quarter amounted to sales of around £10 million. Given this is a relatively small number in the context of annual sales, we believe it is too early to revise our full year sales and profit guidance.”
