TOP NEWS: Next Says 2017 Most Challenging Period In 25 Years

23rd Mar 2018 07:57

LONDON (Alliance News) - Next PLC on Friday reported a drop in annual profit and revenue on the back of challenging trading conditions.

"In many ways 2017 was the most challenging year we have faced for twenty-five years. A difficult clothing market coincided with self-inflicted product ranging errors and omissions. At the same time, the business has had to manage the costs, systems requirements and opportunities of an accelerating structural shift in spending from retail stores to online. In the end our profits were in line with the forecast we issued in January 2017 and the company goes into the coming year in good financial health," said Chief Executive Simon Wolfson.

The FTSE 100-clothing and homeware retailer reported pretax profit for the year ended January 27 of GBP726.1 million, down 8.1% from GBP790.2 million, on revenue that dipped to GBP4.06 billion from GBP4.10 billion the year before.

A difficult clothing market combined with self-inflicted product ranging errors and omissions led to a 7.0% decline in full-price sales at the store business Next Retail, a 0.6% decline in NEXT Brand and a 9.2% growth in NEXT Online. Total full-price sales declined by 0.5%.

During the year, Next invested GBP161.0 million on new stores, warehousing and systems.

Next declare a final dividend of 105 pence per share, giving a unchanged total payout of 158.0p for the year. The retailer has maintained its guidance for the new financial year, expecting total full-price sales growth at 1.0%, and pretax profit of GBP705.0 million, which would represent another decline.

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