// Next revises sales and profit forecast as there are “too many variables” at play to remain confident in the year ahead
// Next recorded a stronger than anticipated first half with full price sales up 12.4% and profit 16% higher
Next has slashed its sales forecast for the second half of its financial year despite a better than expected first half.
The fashion retailer has revised down its full year profit after finding that there were “many variables” at play amid the cost-of-living crisis.
Next recorded a stronger than anticipated first half with full price sales up 12.4% and pre-tax profit up 16% at £401 million.
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However, the retailer said sales were impacted in August before some demand returned in September.
It now expected full price sales in its second half to fall 1.5%. It had previously guided an increase of 1%.
Next’s full-year pre-tax profit forecast fell by £20 million to £840 million but it still represented a rise of 2% on 2020/21.
Next CEO Lord Wolfson said it was hoping to “see benefits from recent government measures”.
“There are so many variables at play – energy, freight, employment, tax, economic migration, exchange rates, etc – that today, more than ever, it is not possible to predict the future on the basis of the past,” he said.
“It is over forty years since the UK last experienced an inflationary shock on the scale we are witnessing today; and the UK economy of the 1970s – with its reliance on highly subsidised and geographically concentrated heavy industry – was incomparably different to the economy of today.
“We have used our recent trade, along with some internal and external economic data, to build a picture of what we think is going on and how the company is likely to be affected over the coming months.”
