Next beats internal forecast as Q1 full price sales rise 4.5 percent

Full price sales at Next Plc in the thirteen weeks to April 27, were up 4.5 percent on last year. The company said in a statement that this was 1.3 percent ahead of our internal forecast of 3.2 percent for the first quarter due to unusually warm weather over the Easter holiday period, which was particularly helpful to the retail stores. While the retail sales were down 3.6 percent during the quarter, Next added that online sales improved by 11.8 percent and product full-price sales were up 4 percent.

The company further said that it does not currently believe that the over performance of the first quarter can be extrapolated through to the rest of the year. The over performance in the first quarter amounted to sales of around 10 million pounds and because this is a relatively small number in the context of annual sales, Next believes that it is too early to revise full year sales and profit guidance.

For the full year to January 2020, the company expects retail sales including sales from new space to decline 8.5 percent, 11 percent improvement in online sales and 1.7 percent rise in total full price sales. The company anticipates group profit before tax to reach 715 million pounds, down 1.1 percent against 2018/19, while earnings per share are expected to rise by 3.4 percent. For the second quarter, full price sales are expected to be down 0.5 percent and for third and fourth quarter, sales are expected to increase by 1.7 percent respectively.

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