UK's Next forecasts 3.5% rise in sales to £5.22 bn for 2025-26

The financial year ending January 2026 is a 53-week year. The guidance above relates to a 52-week period to provide a direct comparison against previous years, said Next plc in a press release.

Next’s profit before tax (PBT) is projected to rise by 3.6 per cent YoY to £1,046 million, with pre-tax earnings per share (EPS) up by 6.7 per cent to 900.2 pence and post-tax EPS increasing 6.4 per cent to 676.0 pence in 2025-26.

Region-wise, UK full-price sales growth is expected to slow and rise by just 1.4 per cent due to the economic impact of employer tax increases, while online overseas sales growth is projected to moderate to 14 per cent, down from 23.9 per cent in 2024, as the company plans a more cautious approach to marketing expenditure. Overall, the group anticipates a modest reduction in markdown sales in subsidiaries, contributing to slightly lower total sales growth compared to full-price sales growth.

The group updated its guidance for the current year 2024-25, forecasting full-price sales of £5.05 billion (~$6.36 billion), up 5.5 per cent YoY, slightly higher than the previous guidance of £5.02 billion (+4.9 per cent).

Total group sales, including markdowns and investments, are expected to grow by 7.8 per cent to £6.30 billion, compared to the prior estimate of £6.27 billion (+7.4 per cent). Group profit before tax is projected at £1,010 million (+10.0 per cent), up from the earlier forecast of £1,005 million (+9.5 per cent).

Pre-tax EPS is expected to rise by 11.4 per cent to 843.8 pence, while post-tax EPS is forecast at 635.4 pence, marking a 9.8 per cent increase, both improving slightly from the previous guidance of 839.3 pence (+10.8 per cent) and 632.4 pence (+9.3 per cent), respectively. This forecast assumes January full-price sales will increase by 3.5 per cent.

For 9 weeks period ended December 28, the company reported a 6.3 per cent year-over-year (YoY) increase in total product full-price sales driven by strong growth in online Label UK (+9.2 per cent) and online overseas (+31.4 per cent).

ALCHEMPro News Desk (SG)