Next has raised its full-year profit guidance after reporting a sharper-than-anticipated rise in full-price sales for the third quarter (Q3) of 2025.
The retailer now expects a pretax profit of £1.135bn ($1.52bn) for the year to January 2026, up from a previous estimate of £1.105bn and ahead of the £1.011bn recorded in 2024/25.
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Full-price sales in the 13 weeks to 25 October rose 10.5%, outperforming guidance of 4.5% by £76m.
UK sales increased 5.4%, above the 1.9% target though slower than the 7.6% growth achieved in the first half of the year.
International sales climbed 38.8%, surpassing a forecast of 19.4% and also ahead of the 28.1% growth reported in the first half.
Next has now lifted its fourth-quarter sales growth guidance from 4.5% to 7%, adding £36m to its forecast.
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By GlobalDataIn the UK, the company pointed to better stock availability compared with 2024, when deliveries were disrupted by Bangladesh supply issues and global freight constraints.
Overseas growth was supported by a 50% increase in digital marketing spend versus previous guidance of 25%, and by the consolidation of European stockholding, which improved product availability for its offer on Zalando.
For Q4, Next expects UK sales growth to ease to 4.1%, while international online sales growth is projected to slow to 24.3% as it laps strong comparatives.
The retailer expects to generate about £425m of surplus cash in 2025.
After returning £131m via share buybacks, it plans to distribute the remaining surplus through a special dividend of £3.10 per share at the end of January 2026, assuming no additional acquisitions or buybacks.
The interim dividend of 87 pence per share will be paid on 5 January 2026, with the next trading update due on 6 January 2026.
