Next records surge in Christmas sales and raises full-year profit outlook

Next Plc issued a robust trading update today, revealing that full-price sales for the nine weeks ending 27 December 2025 climbed 10.6 percent compared to the previous year. This performance significantly exceeded the Group's earlier guidance of 7 percent for the period, driven primarily by a massive surge in international demand.

Highlights of the trading update

The retailer attributed its holiday success to improved stock availability in the UK and aggressive marketing expansion abroad. Total UK sales grew by 5.9 percent, while international online sales soared by 38.3 percent. Management noted that the transition to the ZEOS platform in August enhanced European operations by unifying stock-holding for both Zalando and Next websites.

On the back of these results, Next has raised its full-year profit before tax guidance by 15 million pounds to 1.2 billion pounds. This revised target represents a 13.7 percent increase over the prior year. Post-tax earnings per share (EPS) are now forecast to rise by 16.1 percent to 738.8p.

Capital return and shareholder distributions

The Group continues to demonstrate strong cash generation, forecasting 474 million pounds in surplus cash for the current year. Following a 131 million pounds share buyback program executed at an average price of 109 pounds, the company announced a proposed B Share Scheme to return an additional 421 million pounds to shareholders. The scheme will return 3.60 pounds per ordinary share.

Outlook for fiscal 2026/27

Looking ahead to the year ending January 2027, Next provided a more cautious initial outlook, forecasting full-price sales growth of 4.5 percent and a Group profit before tax of 1,2 billion pounds.

The company anticipates a moderation in growth due to "tough UK comparatives"—largely because the current year benefited from exceptionally favorable summer weather and competitor disruption—as well as cooling consumer sentiment linked to UK employment pressures. International growth is also expected to normalise as the pace of marketing expenditure increases slows from this year's 60 percent peak to a projected 25 percent.

Next Plc is scheduled to release its final audited results for the year ending January 2026 on Thursday, 26 March 2026.