Overview

• Underlying pre-tax profit rose 13.8% to about £515 million on roughly 10% full-price sales growth, with revenue around £3.2 billion for the half year to July.
• Next now expects UK full-price sales growth to slow to 1.9% in the second half from 7.6% in the first, with store sales forecast to fall 0.6% and online to rise 3.6%.
• Management said first-half outperformance was helped by warm weather and disruption at Marks & Spencer after a cyberattack, factors it does not expect to repeat.
• Full-year guidance was maintained for group sales up 7.5% and pre-tax profits around £1.11 billion, though the shares fell about 6% after the update.
• The company reported vacancies down roughly 35% and applications up about 76% over two years, citing higher employer costs, new employment rules and mechanisation/AI, while forecasting international growth to help offset UK weakness.