Next posts above guidance Christmas sales – Daily Business

Fashion and furnishings chain Next has announced strong Christmas trading, with full price sales up 10.6% in the nine weeks to 27 December.

The figure, described by the company as an “over-achievement”, adds £51m to full price sales exceeds guidance and points to a £15 million increase in full-year profit before tax to £1.15 billion, representing a 13.7% increase year-on-year.

For the year ending January 2027, Next forecasts full price sales growth of 4.5% and profit before tax of £1.202bn, with £768 million available for shareholder distributions, representing 4.8% of the current market capitalisation.

The company also expects to generate £474m in surplus cash for the current year after ordinary dividends, with a proposed £421m capital return via a B Share Scheme.

Next’s figures indicate a mixed picture for the retail sector, with two big chains – Claires’s and The Original Factory Shop – currently in administration and partly blaming poor Christmas trading.

Earlier this week AJ Bell analysts said Next “continues to offer the right product, at the right price points and in the right format to its target demographic, as evidenced by its uncanny knack of beating earnings expectations.”

The continued success of Next also comes as five Business Improvement Districts have added their voices to a call from the Scottish Retail Consortium for the Scottish Government to match a permanent business rates discount in England for retail, hospitality and leisures companies.

This will see a 5p in the pound discount to their business rate, which roughly equates to a 10% discount.

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