Profits held at Next ahead of "tough" trading conditions
Retail giant Next has reported only a small increase in revenue in its year-end results this morning. The Leicester-based company said group revenues increased by 1 per cent to £3.5bn for the year ending 31 January 2011.
Pre-tax profit at the company rose by 9 per cent to £551m, and after tax, increased 10.2 per cent on 2010’s final results. Profit after tax reached £400.9m, compared with £364m in the previous year.
The company said that its Next Directory business continued to grow throughout the year, and sales from the catalogue now account for 27 per cent of group sales and 40 per cent of profits.
John Barton, chairman at Next, said that the company was facing an “increasingly tough” trading environment.
He said: “Increases in VAT, cotton prices and labour rates in many of the countries in which we source means the price of our products are rising at a time when our customers are experiencing increased demands on their income. However, we believe NEXT can continue to thrive by keeping to our strategy of investing in the brand, improving the products, and developing new avenues of growth.”
