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.

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.

In 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.