British clothing retailer Next Plc exceeded expectations in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In view of the surprisingly positive development, the company raised its sales and earnings forecasts for the current financial year 2021/22 on Thursday.
In the eight weeks leading up to December 25th, sales of non-discounted goods were £ 70 million above their own expectations, the retailer said in an interim statement published on Thursday. The company emphasized that it was able to achieve the growth despite delivery difficulties and staff shortages in warehousing and logistics.
Next cited a “strong recovery” in demand for casual and formal wear as the main reason. Overall, sales of products sold at full price exceeded the comparable level of the pre-crisis year 2019/20 by 20 percent. The growth engine was the online business (+45 percent), while the revenues in the stationary stores were 5.4 percent below the value two years ago.
The company management took the surprisingly strong growth as an opportunity to raise its forecasts for the financial year that will run until the end of January: The sales target for non-price-reduced items was increased from 4.2 to 4.3 billion British pounds (5.1 billion euros) Pre-tax profit is expected to reach £ 822 million, compared to £ 800 million previously targeted.
At the same time, Next published its first forecasts for the coming financial year 2022/23. According to this, full-price sales are to be increased by 7.0 percent year-on-year to 4.6 billion British pounds. In pre-tax profit, the company expects growth of 4.6 percent to £ 860 million.