British clothing retailer Next met guidance with a 12.5 percent rise in year profit, powered by sales growth at both its stores and Directory internet business, though it took a cautious view of the outlook for the 2015-16 year. The firm, which trades from over 500 stores in Britain and Ireland and almost 200 stores overseas, said on March 19 that although Britain's consumer economy looked benign, it remained very cautious in its sales budgets.
"Whilst we are happy with most of our current product ranges, we recognise that some collections are not as strong as they were at this point last year," said the firm.
It said that during the spring and summer seasons it also faces very tough comparative numbers from last year, when sales were assisted by unusually warm weather.
Next noted there is potential upside in the second half as the comparative performance last year weakens, particularly in the third quarter.
The firm forecast sales growth of 1.5-5.5 percent in 2015-16 with the first half expected to be up 0-3 percent, and the second half up 3.5-7.5 percent.
It forecast a pretax profit of 785-835 million pounds ($1.17-1.24 billion) for the current year, which represents growth of 0.4-6.7 percent.
Next made an underlying profit before tax of 782 million pounds in the year to January-end 2015.
That compares to Next's own guidance of 765-785 million pounds and 695 million pounds made in the 2013-14 year.
Underlying earnings per share (EPS) rose 15 percent to 420 pence and the ordinary dividend was increased by 16 percent to 150 pence a share.
Next has outperformed rivals for a decade due to a strong online offer, new store openings and diversification into new product areas, such as homewares, and overseas.
Comments
Comments are closed.