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LONDON (Alliance News) - Next PLC on Wednesday said sales fell in the first quarter of its financial year as unseasonably cold spring weather led to a reduced demand for clothing, leading it to lower its full-price sales guidance for the full year.
The clothing and homewares retailer said total sales in the first quarter ended May 2 fell by 0.2% on the same period the year before, as full-price sales declined by 0.9%. The latter was at the lower end of its sales guidance of a 1% decline to 4% growth.
By division, full-price sales at Next Retail fell by 4.7%, while full-price sales at Next Directory grew by 4.2%.
Next said its results were hit by much colder weather in March and April, which reduced the demand for clothing, particularly over the Easter holiday period which was unusually warm last year.
The retailer said it believes it is unlikely, although possible, that sales will deteriorate further and that it has seen a significant improvement over the last few days as temperatures have risen.
However, the poor performance of the last six weeks "may be indicative of weaker underlying demand for clothing and a potentially wider slowdown in consumer spending", leading Next to widen and lower its full-price sales guidance range for the full year to between a 3.5% decline and 3.5% growth.
Full-year pretax profit is expected to fall between GBP748 million and GBP852 million.
Next will release its first-half results for the 26 weeks ending July 30 on August 3.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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