Next: raises profit guidance after strong Christmas sales
(CercleFinance.com) - British clothing retailer Next raised its full-year profit guidance on Friday as it reported forecast-beating sales for the Christmas trading period.
The firm guided to group profit before tax of 727 million pounds for the full year ending January 2020. That is up from a previous expectation of 725 million pounds and represents an increase of 0.6% on last year, Next said.
Full price sales for the Christmas trading period (27 October to 28 December) rose by 5.2%, which was 1.1% better than its internal forecast.
"We believe our sales performance in the period was helped by a much colder November than last year and improved stock availability in both our retail stores and online," Next said.
For the full year, the retailer expects full price sales growth of 3.9%, 0.3% ahead of the guidance given in October.
Next shares, which have slightly declined in the last year, were down 0.4% at 6,928 pence in morning trade, valuing the business at about 9.3 billion pounds.
Copyright (c) 2020 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
The firm guided to group profit before tax of 727 million pounds for the full year ending January 2020. That is up from a previous expectation of 725 million pounds and represents an increase of 0.6% on last year, Next said.
Full price sales for the Christmas trading period (27 October to 28 December) rose by 5.2%, which was 1.1% better than its internal forecast.
"We believe our sales performance in the period was helped by a much colder November than last year and improved stock availability in both our retail stores and online," Next said.
For the full year, the retailer expects full price sales growth of 3.9%, 0.3% ahead of the guidance given in October.
Next shares, which have slightly declined in the last year, were down 0.4% at 6,928 pence in morning trade, valuing the business at about 9.3 billion pounds.
Copyright (c) 2020 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.