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I bought £200 worth in 1991 at 11p as part of a share club. It was all that I could afford at the time. Intraday we were sitting on a paper loss when they briefly dropped to 6p. We sold up at 22p a couple of weeks later and doubled our money. I know a couple of people that are still sitting on some of the Next shares that they bought around this time < 30p. I subsequently bought a significant number (for me) in the mid 90s which over the years have been used to help fund house moves, holidays, cars and children! I still have some left which will play not an insignificant part of my retirement plans.

This has been by far my most successful stock gamble and really all pure luck. In 1991 Next was on the brink of collapse when it was struggling to find the funds to repay a Eurobond. Enter Otto Versand who submitted an offer which doubled the amount on the table for Grattan from whom I can't remember. This gave them a lifeline and the rest is history.

Share buybacks are subject to us achieving a minimum 8% Equivalent Rate of Return (ERR) on the

purchase. As a reminder, ERR is calculated by dividing anticipated NEXT Group pre-tax profits by the

current market capitalisation . Our latest guidance of pre-tax profits of £1,080m results in a buyback

limit of circa £116 per share.

In the event that we buy back no further shares this year, our post-tax EPS growth for the year would

reduce from +9.7% to +9.0%. In the absence of any acquisitions, any surplus cash we were unable to

spend on share buybacks would be returned to shareholders by way of a special dividend early next

year (2026).

Source Https://www.nextplc.co.uk/~/media/Files/N/next-plc-v4/documents/2025/trading-statement-may-25.pdf

To date, Next have purchased £81m of £316m shares. So should the share price remain above £116 there would be £235m for a special dividend early 2026. That's about £1.91/share based on the current number of registered shares.

Obviously this isn't guaranteed and my figures are estimates.

I've known some people and some friends that have worked at Next at times from the mid 80s to the 2010s. Yes Wolfson does get involved in detail and is happy to challenge his operational experts. The company also has a reputation of keeping it's best people and there are/were a lot of long serving employees from what I've heard.

I recently sold my substantial (for me) holding at £114 with the plan to buy back lower within the next few weeks. I'm now doubting whether I'll be able to do that.

The growth in Next's international markets looks very promising and maybe there is some anticipation of this continuing at pace being priced in.

Given the current share price I think that the equivalent rate of return is below the threshold at which Next executes buybacks. I need to dig out the calculation to confirm this. If that is the case and Next has surplus cash then there should be some special dividends.

I do intend to buy back; ideally in a dip. I will continue to hold for the very long term as I see Next becoming more of a global fashion brand. I will draw on them in my retirement to supplement other pensions.

Barring macroeconomic shocks, wars, black swan events, etc. I'd be surprised if they haven't hit £150 in the next couple of years.

Another risk is Simon Wolfson. Not that long ago it seemed that he had one eye on politics but I think that moment has passed. I'd be surprised if he wasn't still at the helm at 70 or whenever he installs one of his offspring in that position.