• Home
  • Executive
  • Report
  • The City expects Next to post 5 percent dip in H1 profits

The City expects Next to post 5 percent dip in H1 profits

By Angela Gonzalez-Rodriguez

loading...

Scroll down to read more

Volatile and weather-dependent trading in the last six months is the reason leading analysts to believe that fashion retailer Next will see a fall in its first-half profits when it reports its six months update on Thursday.

Next Plc (LON:NEXT) will reports its results for the first half of the year on Thursday, as well as WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW).

According to ‘Proactive Investors’, the City expects fashion retailer Next to report a 5 percent fall in first-half profits due to how the volatile and unseasonal weather has affected the sales at the fashion chain stores.

Investors will also be keen to hear how the autumn season has kicked off, knowing that the warm late summer weather may have slowed initial sales of winter gear, adds the financial publication.

In this regard, Numis analyst Matthew Taylor said: “The shares have underperformed the sector by 15 percent in the past 12 months, but have rallied recently.”

Meanwhile, stating a possible downside of 0.15 percent, HSBC held the price target of Next shares at 4,485 pence. More optimistic were analysts at Exane BNP Paribas who released a statement about Next PLC(LON:NXT) on Monday upping the target price at 5,600 pence, which indicates a possible upside of 0.06 percent.

Next PLC (LON:NXT) traded Wednesday 0.10 percent higher at 5,247.50 pence. NXT’s 50-day moving average is 5,368.94 pence. With the last stock price down 4.29 percent from the 200-day average (5,469.40 pence), compared with the S&P 500 Index which has held steady over the same period.

Next