The British clothing retailer Next Plc presented surprisingly good figures for the first half of the 2022/23 financial year on Thursday. However, given deteriorating market conditions, the company lowered its full-year guidance.
In the months from February to July, group sales amounted to 2.38 billion pounds sterling (2.67 billion euros). It thus exceeded the corresponding prior-year level by 12.3 percent. The engine of growth was stationary retail, whose revenues increased by 63 percent to 880.5 million pounds sterling. Financial services revenue rose 12 percent to £133.7 million, while online revenue was £1.43 billion, five percent down on the prior-year figure.
Next also achieved solid growth in earnings: Operating profit rose by 10.7 percent to 434.4 million British pounds. Net income was £328.5 million (EUR 368.5 million), a 13.4 percent improvement over the first half of last year.
Because sales development in August fell short of expectations and the company expects “increasing pressure due to rising living costs” for the coming months, the retailer lowered its forecasts despite the solid half-year figures. For the second half of the year, he now expects sales of non-discounted items to fall by 1.5 percent. So far he had expected growth of one percent compared to the same period last year. The annual pre-tax profit target has been lowered from £860m to £840m. However, that would still mean an increase of 2.1 percent compared to the previous financial year.