Next has posted an annual pre-tax profit of over £1bn for the first time in the company’s history, marking a 10.1% uplift year-on-year.
The retailer has has raised its sales and profit forecast for 2025, with full-year sales expected to increase by 4.3%.
The fashion and home retail giant’s total sales rose by 4.3% for the year ending January 25 despite a 1.2% decline in like-for-like sales, primarily driven by the slowdown in the UK market due to challenging economic conditions.
Online UK sales climbed by 4.6% during the period and profit for the online division increased 8%.
Third-party brand sales rose 10% during the period, driven by the retailer’s LABEL platform.
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Despite the profit growth, Next cautioned that “the UK economy is expected to remain challenging in the near term, with rising employer taxes following the October Budget expected to reduce consumer spending and impact the broader economy.”
The retailer forecasts a reduction in like-for-like sales in the coming year, with an expected decline of 2%, though new store openings are expected to partially offset this, adding around 1.7% to sales.
“For the year ahead, we are budgeting for retail full price sales, on a like-for-like basis, to be down -2.0%. The addition of new space is expected to add +1.7% to Retail sales, meaning that we expect Retail full price sales to be down -0.3% versus last year,” the company said in its statement.”
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