Retailer Next (NXT) has managed to eke out an impressive 20% share price gain in 2023 despite all the pressures on household budgets as it has continued to deliver sector-leading performance.

Investors will be hoping for more of the same when it posts first-half results on 21 September. These numbers will have wider resonance as Next is seen as a bellwether for the retail sector. Unlike some of its rivals Next has managed to keep pace with changes in the industry.

Chief executive Simon Wolfson makes a habit of being extremely conservative with guidance – understanding the well-worn principle that it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver as a public company.

On 3 August Next served up a second upgrade to full-year profit guidance in as many months, with its pre-tax profit forecast for the year to January 2024 lifted by £10 million to £845 million. This was underpinned by solid trading in its second quarter to 29 July with full price sales up 6.9% year-on-year.

Less encouraging was a significant slowing in sales growth in the last six weeks of the quarter. Investors will be watching closely to see if that trend has continued in more recent trading.

UK UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

FULL-YEAR RESULTS

September 18: City of London Investment Group, Enteq Technologies

September 19: Hargreaves Lansdown, Mcbride, Naked Wines,

September 20: Galliford Try, Dunelm, Transense Technologies

September 21: Fonix Mobile, CVS, DFS Furniture

HALF-YEAR RESULTS

September 18: Futura Medical, HGCapital Trust, Greencoat Renewables, S4 Capital

September 19: Kingfisher, Trustpilot, Maintel Holdings, Concurrent Technologies, Good Energy Group, CPP Group, MyHealthchecked, Fintel, Henry Boot, Jadestone Energy, Billington, Surgical Innovations Group, Nortcoders Group, Xaar

September 20: Advanced Medical Solutions, Ten Entertainment, Oxford Biomedica, Judges Scientific, M&G, Destiny Pharma

September 21: Chesnara, Strix, Aquis Exchange, Next, JD Sports Fashion

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

September 15: Alpha Real Trust

September 21: Halma, Investec

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