Next Shares Jump After Bumper Q2 Sales Trigger Fresh Profit Upgrade

Next plc (LON: NXT) shares gained more than 7% on Wednesday, touching 15,900p, after the fashion and homeware retailer delivered a blowout trading update that comfortably beat its own forecasts and prompted another upgrade to full-year profit guidance.

Full-price sales for the second quarter rose 9.2% year-on-year, far outstripping Next’s forecast of 4.0% growth and coming in £70m ahead of expectations — £19m from the UK and £51m from overseas markets.

Management attributed the surprise strength to unexpectedly warm UK weather mirroring last year’s exceptional summer, a release of pent-up demand in the Middle East and Northern Europe following a soft first quarter, and higher-than-planned spending on profitable marketing.

International online sales were the standout performer, surging 36.9% in the quarter, while UK online sales rose 5.0% and retail stores were roughly flat, down 0.3%.

On the back of the outperformance, Next raised its full-year pre-tax profit guidance by £25m to £1,243m, up 7.3% on last year. Of that increase, £15m stems from the additional sales, while £10m reflects better-than-expected returns on the company’s equity investments. Full-year earnings per share guidance was lifted to 812.9p, up 9.2%.

Next maintained its guidance for second-half full-price sales growth of 5.0%, cautioning that international growth will moderate to around 14% due to tougher comparatives following last year’s logistics upgrade in Europe.

The retailer also confirmed plans for £524m of share buybacks this year, £14m more than previously guided, with interim results due 17 September 2026.