The high street giant Next has been buoyed by full price trading and saw a strong end of season sale in the latest quarter and as a result the company has upgraded their profit target.
In the 13 weeks to 29 July the fashion chain reported full price sales rose by 6.9% which comes after shareholders were told in June they had better than expected sales due to the good weather.
Over the past six weeks Next said full price sales grew by 3.7% and took in £16 million more in sales than expected.
The retailer increased their pre-tax profit guidance for the current financial year to £845 million.
Jefferies analyst James Grzinic said, “This self-evidently assumes a reducing willingness by consumers to spend their improving disposable income.”
Russell Pointon, Director of Consumer at Edison Group said, “Against a challenge backdrop for the consumer, there’s a glimmer of hope in the Q2 trading update from NEXT.
“Full price sales during May to July rose by an impressive 6.9% compared to last year, which surpassed their initial guidance.
“The unexpected surge in full price sales positively impacted their prediction of full price sales for the year, revising the figure to +1.8%.
“Additionally, the company’s better-than expected clearance rates in the end-of-season sale ultimately added 4m to the Group profit before tax. Overall, the full year guidance for Group profit before tax has been revised upwards by £10 million to £845 million.
“The new guidance for FY24 remains about 3% below the prior year’s figure, but the forecasts are moving in the right direction, which many other consumer-facing companies would be envious of.”
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