Next has reported that its pre-tax profits were up by 5.7 per cent to reach £870.4m for the year to January 2023. This was £10m more than its guidance. Total sales reached £5.15bn for the year which was up by 8.4 per cent but online channel sales had fallen by 2 per cent to £3bn as shoppers returned to stores.
It had launched Reiss on its Total Platform as well as having increased its equity stake in the brand and has new websites in the pipeline for JoJo Maman Bebe, Made.com and Joules, in addition to adding them to Total Platform. Clearly, Next is wasting no time in leveraging value from its recent acquisitions – which combined with its franchise activity delivered £16.8m profit.
Next chairman Michael Roney commented: “It has been a good year for Next. We have embraced the various challenges and seized the opportunities that have arisen.
“If we continue to improve our product ranges, relentlessly manage our costs and upgrade our customer service, whilst also developing new business opportunities; we can lay the foundations for an exceptionally strong business and still deliver healthy profits, cash flow and dividends.”
Commenting on Next’s Final Results, Julie Palmer, Partner at Begbies Traynor, said: “This morning’s results revealed a decent performance from one of the UK’s best-known retailers. Next saw sales climb year on year, and they are up by over a fifth when compared to the year before the pandemic disruption.
“There’s also the usual under-promising and over-delivering with profits before tax coming in at £870m, ever so slightly ahead of previous guidance.
“Next claims it will return to higher levels of growth once the cost-of-living crisis has passed. As many other high street retailers face the very real prospect of shutting up shop for good, this bastion of UK retail shows that the very best operators are very resilient and still have plenty of runway.”
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