Next’s full-year profits beat expectations, however, the retailer forecasts that sales and profits will fall in its current year. Pre-tax profits rose 5.7% to £870.4m in the year to January 2023, £10m above its previous guidance, due to strong sales in both its retail and total platform businesses.
Despite a consumer squeeze on spending, total trading sales jumped 8.4% to £5.15bn last year but online sales dipped 2% to £3bn against last year. Cautiously and despite this strong performance, Next maintained its current year guidance that sales would fall 1.5% and profits would come in £75m lower.
However, the retailer claimed that: “Next can return to higher levels of growth once the cost of living crisis has passed”.
Confidence in the Next branded business is “established but not standing still”, it had developed “outstanding assets and skills” that can deliver growth outside its heartland business, and it had new avenues of growth that it said are “proven, but at the early stages in their development”.
