British retailer Next ends first half above pre-pandemic levels

29 Sep '21

2 min read

Pic: Next

Next plc, a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, has reported a 63.4 per cent sales growth to £2.2 billion in the first half (H1) of FY22 ended on July 31, 2021, over the same period of prior year, while up 8.4 per cent against H1 FY19. Operating profit expanded to £392.5 million (H1 FY20: £34.1 million).

“Full price sales were down in February and March, when most of our retail stores were closed for ten weeks. They recovered strongly once the majority of our stores reopened on 12 April, boosted, we believe, by pent-up demand in April and very warm weather in June,” the company stated. “Full price sales in the second half have also started strongly. We believe that August and, to some degree, the beginning of September were boosted by more people taking holidays in the UK.”

The fashion retailer’s online sales escalated to £1.5 billion over £862.6 billion in the H1 of FY20 ended on July 25, 2020. Retail sales for the six-month period surged to £540.1 million (£344.6 million).

Sales from Next Brand UK totalled to £685 million, while Label UK sales were £338 million, taking the UK online sales to £1.0 billion in the first half. Next’s overseas sales were up to £344 million.

The company has increased its forecast for the complete year from 6 per cent to 10 per cent over the 2019.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (JL)

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