Next’s share price rose 4.45% today after upgrading its full-year profit guidance this morning following stronger-than-expected Christmas trading.
The retail giant is a constituent of the currently-blossoming FTSE 100. Its market cap currently sits at a huge £17.26 billion.
In the nine weeks to 27th December 2025, full-price sales rose 10.6% year-on-year, comfortably ahead of the retailer’s previous guidance of 7%.
UK full-price sales increased 5.9%, while international online sales surged 38.3%, helped by higher-than-planned marketing investment and stronger performance through European aggregator Zalando following Next’s transition to the ZEOS platform.
The stronger trading performance, combined with additional sales expected in January, has added £51 million to full-price sales forecasts.
The FTSE 100 firm has now raised guidance for profit before tax for the year ending January 2026 by £15m to £1.15 billion, representing growth of 13.7% year on year.
Post-tax earnings per share are now expected to rise 16.1%.
The Leicester-based business said UK growth slowed compared with earlier in the year but held up better than anticipated, partly due to higher stock availability after supply chain disruption last year.
International growth outperformed expectations, supported by increased profitable marketing spend and improved stock efficiency across Europe.
For the full 2025/26 financial year, Next now expects full-price sales of £5.6bn, up 10.7%, with total group sales of £7bn, up 10.3%.
The guidance excludes the benefit of a 53rd trading week, which is expected to add a further £22m to profit before tax.