Next has upgraded its full price sales and pre-tax profit guidance for the current financial year after trading in the first eight weeks of the period were ahead of expectations.
The upgrades come as the retail giant posted results for the year to January 2025, which it reported a 10.1% leap in group profit before tax to over £1bn.
For the period, Next’s full price sales increased 5.8%, while total group sales jumped 8.2% to over £6.3bn.
The retailer also said that full price sales in the first eight weeks of the year have been ahead of its expectations.
As a result, Next said it’s upgrading their full price sales guidance for the first half to be up by 6.5%, resulting in full year sales expectations being up 5%.
Group pre-tax profit guidance increased by £20m to over £1bn—a 5.4% increase.
The retailer noted that last year it felt as though it was “entering a new era: the worst of the retail-to-online structural shift appeared to be behind us, the pandemic was well and truly over, and the cost-of-living crisis was abating.
“That cautious optimism appears, now, to have been well founded; and the company went on to delivery growth in pre-tax EPS of more than 10%. We are as positive about the company today as we were then, albeit in an environment where the risks to the wider UK economy are growing”.
The retailer also noted that it has “spent seven years changing course and is, for now, clear in its direction of travel.”
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