Next H1 Profit Before Tax Rises; Updates FY23 Outlook

NEXT plc (NXT.L), an apparel retailer, on Thursday reported higher profit before tax and revenues for the first half of the year. The company also updated its earnings guidance for fiscal 2023.

For the first half, profit before tax increased to 419.8 million pounds from 400.6 million pounds last year.

After tax, earnings attributable to equity holders slipped to 321.8 million pounds from 328.5 million pounds of the previous year.

Earnings per share, however, grew to 262.6 pence per share from 260.7 pence per share of prior year.

Revenue rose to 2.516 billion pounds from 2.379 billion pounds last year.

Additionally, Next declared an interim dividend of 66 pence per share, payable on January 3, 2024 to shareholders of record on December 7.

Further, the company increased its earning guidance for the full year. It now expects profit before tax of 875 million pounds, an increase of 0.5 percent from a year ago. The previous guidance was 845 million pounds.

Pre-tax earnings per share guidance has also been revised up to 723.9 pence per share, compared to the previous expectation of 700.1 pence per share. The revised guidance reflects an increase of 3.2 percent from last year.

Post-tax earnings per share guidance is now expected to be 552.9 pence per share, up from 535.3 pence per share expected previously. However, the new guidance reflects a decrease of 3.6 percent from prior year’s post-tax EPS.

Brand full price sales growth is now expected to be 2.6 percent, higher than previous outlook of 1.8%.

On Wednesday, shares of Next closed at 7106 pence, up 1.05% on the London Stock Exchange.

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