Online sales growth helps keep Next ahead

This is an archived article - we have removed images and other assets but have left the text unchanged for your reference

A ‘strong performance’ from Next’s online division helped maintain overall sales growth between August and October.

In an interim management statement published today the company said sales growth of 7.9% in the Next Directory online divison had compensated for a 3.3% fall in like-for-like store sales. Overall, Next brand sales rose by 2.2% during the quarter.

Looking ahead, the company said it expected to see online sales grow by between 4% and 8% over the full second half of the year, while store sales were expected to fall by between 4.5% and 1.5% fall. Total Next brand sales are expected to see growth of up to 3%.

Second-half profits are expected to be between £535m and £560m. At the same time, however, the company warned that retail prices were likely to go up by as much as 8% in the first quarter of the 2011 financial year thanks to “what seems to be a speculative bubble in cotton prices”. How long that lasts will also inform prices in the second quarter of the year, it said.

Read More

Register for Newsletter

Created with Sketch.

Receive 3 newsletters per week

Created with Sketch.

Gain access to all Top500 research

Created with Sketch.

Personalise your experience on IR.net