Next posts 0.4 percent drop in profit

Total Next Group Plc sales were 4.2 billion pounds (5.5 billion dollars) for the year to January 2019. The company said, full price sales were up 3.1 percent, online full price sales increased by 14.8 percent but retail full price sales declined by 7.3 percent. Next brand full price sales were up 3.1 percent on last year and total sales including markdown sales increased 2.6 percent. The company added that in line with the guidance in January, group profit was 722.9 million pounds (951.9 million dollars), down 0.4 percent on last year and earnings per share (EPS) were up 4.5 percent.

“The Next Group has delivered profits exactly in line with the guidance we issued in January 2019 and we are maintaining our guidance for the year ahead. As anticipated, the year to January 2019 was challenging for Next as we continued to experience a structural change in our business, with sales continuing to transfer from our stores to online. Despite this, earnings per share increased by 4.5 percent to 435.3p. We are proposing a final ordinary dividend of 110p taking the total ordinary dividend for the year to 165p, an increase of 4.4 percent on last year. Our central guidance for the year ahead is for EPS to grow by 3.6 percent,” said Michael Roney, Chairman of the Next’s board of directors, in a statement.

Next expects full price sales for the year ahead to be up 1.7 percent but it is forecasting for profits to decline by 1.1 percent to 715 million pounds, on last year. The company expects EPS to be enhanced by 4.9 percent as a result of the continuing distribution of surplus cash generation in the form of share buybacks, as a result, EPS for the full year are expected to rise by 3.6 percent.