British clothing retailer Next edged up its annual profit outlook for the fourth time in six months on Tuesday as it reported a better-than-expected 6 per cent rise in full-price sales for the nine weeks to December 28th.

Next said it now expected a year to January 2025 pretax profit of £1.01 billion (€1.22 billion), up from previous guidance of £1.005 billion and the £918 million made in 2023/24.

The group has historically been a useful gauge of how UK consumers are faring.

However, its performance contrasted with industry data from trade body the British Retail Consortium, also published on Tuesday, showing disappointing overall UK retail sales in the final quarter of last year.

For its 2025/26 financial year, Next forecast full-price sales growth of 3.5 per cent and pretax profit of £1.046 billion, up 3.6 per cent. - Reuters

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