3rd Jan 2019 07:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Next PLC on Thursday said trading in the key Christmas period came in line with the company's expectations, though the retailer lowered its annual profit guidance.
Next, the first London-listed retailer to reveal its performance for the important festive trading period, said strong sales in the three weeks prior to Christmas along with a good half-term holiday week at the end of October made up for disappointing sales in November.
For the period from October 28 to December 29, the retailer recorded full price sales growth of 1.0% on the period year ago period, with online sales rising 15% and retail sales declining 9.2%. Total full price sales including interest income for the period grew 1.5% on the prior year, in line with the company's September guidance.
For the year to December 29, full price sales grew 2.6%, with online sales rising 15% and shop sales retreating by 7.0%.
The clothing, footwear and home products chain said it now expects group pretax profit for the year ending late January to total GBP723 million, down 0.6% from previous guidance of GBP727 million.
The GBP4 million cut to profit guidance was blamed on margin reduction and operational costs associated with higher online sales.
Next expects to record a GBP1.5 million hit from higher sales of lower margin seasonal products such as personalised gifts and beauty products. The remaining GBP2.5 million profit reduction was attributed to increased costs.
Total full price sales for the current financial year are estimated to grow 3.2% on the year prior, up slightly from previous guidance of 3.0% which had been reiterated in October.
The industry bellwether also released its earnings predictions for the year to January 2020. It estimates pretax profit to total GBP715 million, down 1.1% compared to the new guidance issued for the current financial year. Total full price sales for the new financial year are expected to grow 1.7% year-on-year.
Next is slated to release its results for the full year ending January 2019 on March 21.
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