With shares in UK high-street bellwether Next (NXT) trading close to all-time highs above £90 despite the recent pull-back in markets, there is a fair bit riding on its upcoming first-quarter trading update (1 May).

When it posted full-year results in late March, the firm said it had been ‘a long time since we started a year in a more positive frame of mind’ after a better-than-expected performance in 2023 when it delivered its highest ever levels of revenue and profit.

‘Perhaps more encouragingly, we enter the financial year with new avenues of growth along with a cost base that feels under control,’ the company added.

Key to the firm’s success is the NEXT brand itself, the ‘jewel in the crown’, which this year management has vowed to ‘take to another level’ through greater breadth of choice and ‘more aspirational levels of quality’.

The clothing sector has positive tailwinds as clothes are an essential rather than a discretionary purchase, the only question being where the customer chooses to spend their money.

For the first quarter as a whole, the company has guided for full-price sales up 5% against a weak first quarter last year followed by flat sales in Q2 against a strong comparison last spring (sales up 6.9%) due to unusually warm weather through May into June.

For the full year, full-price sales are expected to grow by 2.5% with the second half being much more balanced in terms of quarterly performance.

UK UPDATES OVER THE NEXT 7 DAYS

FULL-YEAR RESULTS

29 April: Jadestone Energy, Christie, One Media, Biome Technologies

30 April: Card Factory

1 May: HSS Hire

FIRST-HALF RESULTS

26 April: Jupiter Fund Management       

2 May: Smiths News

FIRST-QUARTER RESULTS

30 April: St James’s Place

2 May: Shell, Standard Chartered

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS

30 April: Elementis, Howden Joinery, Rotork

1 May: Haleon, Next

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