A strong third quarter performance at Next has seen the retailer increase its profit guidance for the year.
Full price sales in the third quarter (August – October) were up 7.6% versus last year. This was 2.6% ahead of Next’s guidance for the quarter of 5.0%. The business believes the performance was driven by the early arrival of colder weather this year, versus an unusually warm September and early October last year.
As a result, Next is increasing guidance for fourth quarter full price sales growth by 1.0%, to 3.5%.
The improved sales in Q3 along with its forecast for Q4 add £43m to full price sales and £10m to profit; accordingly Next is upgrading its profit guidance for the full year from £995m to just over £1bn.
