1st Nov 2023 08:56
(Alliance News) - Next PLC on Wednesday said it had raised its annual profit guidance to GBP885 million after its third quarter sales beat expectations.
The Leicester, England-based clothing, footwear and home products' retailer had previously forecasted a pretax profit of GBP875 million for the financial year ending in January 2024. Pretax profit for financial 2023 was GBP870.4 million.
This comes after Next said sales in the three months ended October 28 grew 4.0% from a year ago, GBP23 million ahead of its guidance which was originally set to be an increase of 2.0%. This was mainly driven by sales growth in its Online division of 6.5%.
Next also expects to report higher pretax earnings per share of 730.2 pence, up 4.1% from a year ago. Previous guidance was set to GBP723.9p.
The retailer added that after raising its equity stake in clothing brand Reiss to 72% from 52% earlier this year, it will receive an exceptional accounting gain of around GBP100 million.
Shares in Next were up 3.6% at 7,132.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter
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