Warm spring weather has helped retailer Next raise its full-year guidance once again after giving a boost to summer clothing sales.
The fashion-to-homewares group reported an 11.4% jump in full-price sales for the 13 weeks to April 26, notching up £55 million more sales than it had expected for the quarter.
It said full-year results were set to be better than predicted thanks to the first quarter outperformance, raising its guidance for pre-tax profits by £14 million to £1.08 billion, which would mark a 6.8% jump on the previous year.
Full-year sales are also now expected to lift by 6% to £5.4 billion, up from £5.3 billion previously pencilled in.
The group added a note of caution, with expectations that some customers would have brought forward summer purchases that would normally have been made in its second quarter.
It said: “We believe much of the over-performance in the first quarter has been the result of warmer weather, which has benefited the sale of summer-weight clothing.
“It is likely that some of these sales have been pulled forward from the second quarter.
“So, despite the strength of the first quarter, we are not increasing our sales guidance for the second quarter, or the rest of the year.”
It also continues to believe sales in the second half may come under pressure as the impact of the hike in national insurance “will begin to filter through to the wider economy”.
National insurance contributions (NICs) – a tax which makes it more expensive to employ people – went up in April, along with the minimum wage.
Meanwhile, UK consumer confidence has also fallen to the lowest level in more than a year amid concerns Donald Trump’s trade tariffs could push up living costs, according to a recent poll by data company GfK.
Next hiked its 2025-26 outlook on unveiling annual results in March, but also warned that the NICs rise was set to hit jobs and weaken consumer spending.
The group has already said it will have to raise prices by around 1% to offset the impact of soaring wage costs.
