Next plc Announces Sales Results for the 54 Days and Year to Date Ended December 24, 2016; Revises Central Guidance for Year Ending January 2017 and 2018
For the year to date, the company reported Total sales, including markdown sales, for the year to date are up +0.4% on last year. Full price sales for the year to date are down -1.1% on last year. Within NEXT Directory's year to date growth of +3.6%, NEXT UK (including Label) was up +1.4% and Overseas was up +18% on last year.
The company revised central guidance for year 2017 and 2018. The company expects group profit is £792 million, this may increase or decrease by £7 million depending on trade in January. Prices on like-for-like garments to rise, but by no more than 5%. The company expects that this will depress sales revenue by around 0.5%. Group profit before tax is £680 million to £780 million. Earnings per share growth were -0.6% as compared to -1.3% to 3.7%. For the full year ending January 2017, the company expects underlying surplus operational cash flow (after capital expenditure, interest, tax and ordinary dividends) to be around £340 million.
Full price sales growth (at constant currency) in the year to January 2018 to be between -4.5% and +1.5%. The mid-point of this range is -1.5%, which is marginally worse than the current year's performance.