In the second quarter ended 27 July, Next sales were up 3.2% year-on-year, exceeding the retailer’s expectations by £42m.
Given an exceptional summer trading period last year, Next had forecasted that sales would be down 0.3%.
In the first half, full price sales were up 4.4% year-on-year, compared to Next guidance of +2.5%.
Total group sales, including markdown, subsidiaries and investments in the first half were up 8%.
Next has increased its profit guidance for the full year by +£20m to £980m, up 6.7% year-on-year.
For the rest of this year, Next is maintaining its guidance for full price sales in the second half to be up 2.5%. Although this seems cautious when looking at the first half, Next says compared to two years ago, growth int he first half and the forecast for the second half are almost identical.
