Sep 25, 2018

Next sales boosted by hot summer

This summer's heatwave led to stronger-than-expected sales at Next in the first six months of the year, the clothing retailer has said. Last week, menswear chain Moss Bros said its sales had suffered because of the hot summer. Next said full price sales in the six-month period were up by a better-than-expected 4.5% on last year. Profit before tax rose by 0.5% to £311.1m, while total group sales were up 3.8% to £1.98bn. Retail sales fell by 6.9% to £925.1m, but online sales jumped by 16.8% to £892.3m. "When we issued our August Trading Statement we believed that there was a high risk that the sales gained in July would be offset by losses in August. As it turned out, we did not experience any material loss of sales in August or early September," chief executive Lord Wolfson said in a statement. He added: "The UK retail market remains volatile, subject to powerful structural and cyclical changes. Many of these headwinds have not abated. As expected, sales in our stores continue to be challenging."

Read the full story

 Related companies

Make a complaint about Next by viewing their customer service contacts.