Next smashed November and December4 Jan 2024 07:06
Full price sales during November and December have been better than we anticipated.
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In the nine weeks to 30 December, full price sales1 were up +5.7% versus last year. This was £38m better than our previous guidance of +2.0% for the period.
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We have increased our full year profit before tax guidance by £20m to £905m, up +4.0% versus last year. Of the £20m increase, £17m came from the sales beat to date and £3m comes from an upgraded forecast for full price sales in January.
1. Full price sales are VAT exclusive sales of items sold at full price in Retail and Online plus NEXT Finance interest income. They exclude items sold in our Sale events, Clearance operations and through Total Platform. They are not statutory sales.
Initial guidance for the year ahead:
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Guidance for full price sales on continuous business to be up +2.5%. After accounting for the effect of recent acquisitions, we expect Group sales, including subsidiary companies2, to be up by +6.0% see page 4.
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Guidance for Group profit3 before tax for the year ahead to be up +5.0%.