Trading Statement - 1 May
2024
HEADLINES
|
·
|
In the thirteen weeks to 27 April NEXT Trading
full price sales1
were up +5.7% versus
last year, slightly ahead of our guidance for this period, which
was to be up +5%.
|
|
·
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We are maintaining our sales and profit
guidance for the full year, with NEXT Group
profit2 before tax
forecast to be £960m
(+4.6%).
|
1. NEXT Trading full price sales include items sold in Retail and
Online plus NEXT Finance interest income, but excludes Sale events,
Clearance, Total Platform commission and the sales from
subsidiaries.
2. NEXT Group profit before tax excludes: (1) the cost of brand
amortisation, (2) the profit attributable to shares that we do not
own in subsidiary companies, and (3) an exceptional, non-cash, loss
relating to the closure of our defined benefit pension
scheme.
FULL PRICE SALES PERFORMANCE BY BUSINESS
DIVISION
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Full price sales by
division
|
13 weeks to 27 April
2024/25 vs 2023/24
|
|
Online
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+8.8%
|
|
Retail
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+0.0%
|
|
Total Product full price
sales
|
+5.7%
|
|
NEXT Finance interest
income
|
+6.4%
|
|
Total NEXT Trading full price
sales
|
+5.7%
|
GUIDANCE FOR SALES, PROFIT AND EARNINGS PER
SHARE
Our guidance for the full year remains
unchanged from that given in our Year End Results in March. For
completeness, this guidance is repeated below.
|
Guidance for the full year
2024/25
|
Full year £ (e)
|
% Versus 2023/24
|
|
NEXT Trading Full
price sales
|
£4.9bn
|
+2.5%
|
|
Total Group sales
including subsidiary companies and markdown sales
|
£6.2bn
|
+6.0%
|
|
NEXT Group profit
before tax
|
£960m
|
+4.6%
|
|
Pre-tax EPS
|
805.2p
|
+6.3%
|
|
Post-tax
EPS
|
606.3p
|
+4.8%
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As stated in our Year End Report,
and explained further in the notes below, Group sales in the year
are expected to increase by more than NEXT full price sales.
The difference is the result of the acquisition of equity stakes in
FatFace and Reiss.
A note on expected sales phasing for the rest
of the year
We are maintaining our guidance for full price
sales in the first half to be up +2.5%. This implies that our
sales in Q2 will be down -0.3%. We expect the sales
performance in the second quarter to be weaker than the first
quarter because last year benefited from particularly warm weather
from late May through to the end of June.
For completeness, our guidance for the rest of
the year is summarised below.
|
Full price sales
guidance
|
Q1 (actual)
|
Q2 (e)
|
Q3 (e)
|
Q4 (e)
|
|
2024/25 versus
2023/24
|
+5.7%
|
- 0.3%
|
+2.5%
|
+2.5%
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Our next sales update will cover the
first 26 weeks of the year to 27 July 2024 and is scheduled for
Thursday 1 August 2024.
Notes on Total Group Sales
Total Group sales are the sum of
total sales (full price and markdown) from all of the Group's
divisions plus revenue from subsidiary companies.
Subsidiaries' turnover is calculated using our share of our
subsidiaries' turnover. For example, we own 72% of Reiss so
we include 72% of their sales in our top line.
Total Group sales for the full year
are expected to be up +6% on last year, which is 3.5% higher than
our expected underlying growth in NEXT Trading full price sales of
+2.5%. This difference in sales growth is explained by the
timing of acquisitions completed during last year; we acquired 97%
of FatFace in October 2023 and increased our equity share in Reiss
from 51% to 72% in September 2023.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this Trading
Update are forward looking statements. These statements may contain
the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "aim", "expects",
"will", or words of similar meaning. By their nature, forward
looking statements involve risks, uncertainties or assumptions that
could cause actual results or events to differ materially from
those expressed or implied by those statements. As such, undue
reliance should not be placed on forward looking statements. Except
as required by applicable law or regulation, NEXT plc disclaims any
obligation or undertaking to update these statements to reflect
events occurring after the date these statements were
published.