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Next PLC shares jumped on Thursday, after it said full price sales in the second quarter beat expectations and it lifted yearly profit guidance.
Shares in the Enderby, England-based clothing, footwear and home products retailer were up 8.0% to 9,796.52 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
In the 13 weeks to July 27, full price sales rose 3.2% on-year, ‘exceeding our expectations by £42 million’, Next said.
It had predicted second-quarter full price sales would fall 0.3% during the quarter, ‘given the exceptional summer last year’.
In the first half, full price sales were up 4.4% versus last year. Next’s guidance for this period was to be up 2.5%.
Total group sales, including markdown, subsidiaries and investments, in the first half rose 8.0%.
Looking ahead, Next raised its annual pretax profit outlook to £980 million, which would represent a 6.7% rise from the prior year. It had previously predicted profit of £960 million.
‘We are maintaining our guidance for full price sales in the second half to be up 2.5% versus last year. This might seem cautious when compared with the performance in the first half, which was up 4.4%. However, when compared to two years ago, growth in the first half and the forecast for the second half are almost identical,’ Next added.
The firm announces half-year results on September 19.
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