British fashion retailer Next reported a 5 percent year-on-year increase in total sales for the second quarter, up £50 million ($60 million) above the company’s previous forecast.
Excluding Russia and Ukraine, full price sales rose 6.3 percent.
Next maintains its second-half revenue guidance of a 1 per cent increase, while full-year profit guidance has been upgraded by £10m to £860m, an increase of 4.5 percent compared to the previous year.
The retailer has also raised its earnings per share (EPS) guidance to 7.2 percent year-on-year.
Return to “pre-pandemic standards”
A statement from the company said that sales in the first half of the year were marked by a “significant reversal of last year’s trends” and that “in-store sales recovered while online growth returned to its longer-term trend.”
“Many product trends have also returned to pre-pandemic standards. Lockdown winners such as homewear and sportswear have retreated, while formal wear has come back to the fore. As expected, online returns rates and overstocks also returned to pre-lockdown levels.
Full priced sales for the quarter were 4.7 percent higher than expected, reflecting warm and dry weather in June and July and a significant return to formal wear, possibly sparked by pent-up demand for social occasions.
However, the company does not expect the sales development of the second quarter to continue in the second half of the year. Next is keeping its sales guidance at 1 percent for the rest of the year as it doesn’t anticipate a similar weather slump in the second half of the year.
The company also expects the impact of inflation on consumer spending to worsen in the second half of the year.
This translated article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk.