British clothing company Next has reported an 8% increase in total group sales for the first half (H1) of fiscal 2024/25 (FY24/25), compared to the same period in 2023/24.
This growth includes contributions from recent acquisitions of FatFace and the increase in stake in Reiss, which took place in the third quarter (Q3) of FY23/24.
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The retailer’s full-price sales, encompassing NEXT Retail, NEXT Online, third-party brands and NEXT Finance interest income, climbed by 4.4% in H1 FY24/25.
This performance exceeded the forecasted 2.5% increase.
The retailer’s full-price sales in the UK through both online and retail channels slightly exceeded expectations with a 0.4% increase in the first half of the fiscal year.
However, overseas online sales significantly outperformed forecasts, surging by 21.9% over the period.
Overall, online sales grew by 8.4% in the 26 weeks ending 27 July 2024.
In the second quarter of the fiscal year, Next’s full-price sales rose by 3.2% year-on-year, £42m above expectations.
This was particularly noteworthy given that the company had predicted a 0.3% decline for the quarter due to the exceptional summer of 2023.
In May 2024, Next announced a 5.7% rise in total trading full-price sales for the first quarter, surpassing the 5% growth projection.
The retailer’s online sales for the second quarter increased by 8.1%.
For the full year 2024/25, Next estimates total group sales to reach £6.2bn, a 6% rise from the previous year and 2.6% higher than the expected growth in NEXT Trading full price sales of 3.4%.
This difference is attributed to the acquisitions completed during the last year, including a 97% stake in FatFace in October 2023 and an increase in equity share in Reiss from 51% to 72% in September 2023.
The company has also revised its full-year profit guidance upwards by £20m to £980m, a 6.7% increase from the previous year.
This improvement stems from an £11m boost in additional sales and £9m in cost savings, primarily in logistics.
Next forecasts post-tax earnings per share of 616.5p, up 6.5% on 2023/24.
