27 March 2025
If you are covering Next’s latest results, please read a comment from Mamta Valechha, consumer discretionary analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
Next continued its recent strong momentum by delivering a good set of full year results this morning. In particular the company had a great end to the year with full price sales up 5.8% and earnings per share up 9.9%.
However, the focus today will be on the guidance upgrade for the year ahead. Next’s management have historically been conservative so we anticipated an upgrade to the guidance but this has come earlier than expected, highlighting the strong position Next has put itself in.
Trading in the first eight weeks of the year to date (Feb/March) has also been better than expected and as a result Next has increased guidance for their full price sales to be up 5% compared to 3.5% previously. This better-than-expected performance has been very balanced across the business too, with both the UK and overseas operations contributing.
These results come against a backdrop of cautious UK consumers and a greater burden being put on businesses via national insurance contributions and higher minimum wages. However, Next is appearing to be shrugging these off and continues to produce growth, with further opportunities to enhance this overseas and with its platform.
With its well-regarded management team and strong product range, Next is a high quality, defensive stock within UK retail and as such can continue to thrive in difficult trading conditions.
