Hot weather boosts first-half sales at Next

Next has issued a trading update for the 26 weeks to 28th July 2018.

Excerpts from the update follow and the full release can be found on our articles page, here. 

- Full price sales for the first half were up +4.5% on last year.  
- Online sales were up +15.5%, driven by the growth in overseas and third party brands business, along with more modest growth in sales of NEXT branded stock in the UK.  
- Retail store sales declined by ‐5.3%.  

The table below sets out the full price sales performance for the first half in Retail stores and Online, broken down by quarter.   

Second Quarter Analysis – 12 weeks to 28 July

"In our May Trading Statement, we issued guidance for full price sales for the rest of the year to be up around +1%.   

"This was lower than our performance in the first quarter, which was flattered by a particularly poor performance in the first quarter of the previous year.  Full price sales in the second quarter were up +2.8% on last year and ahead of our guidance.  

"We believe that this over‐achievement in sales was due to the prolonged period of exceptionally warm weather, which greatly assisted the sales of summer weight product.  It is almost certain that some of these sales have been pulled forward from August, so we are maintaining our sales and profit guidance for the year to January 2019."  

Source : Insight DIY Team and Next Press Release

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