NEXT is a UK based retailer offering exciting, beautifully designed, excellent quality

fashion and accessories for men, women and children together with a full range of

homewares# NEXT distributes through three main channels:


■NEXT Retail, a chain of more than 500 stores in the UK and Eire;
■NEXT Directory, a home shopping catalogue and website with around 3 million active customers and international websites serving approximately 50 countries; and
■NEXT International, with almost 200 mainly franchised stores around the world#
Other businesses in the NEXT group include:■NEXT Sourcing, which designs, sources and buys NEXT branded products;
■Lipsy, which designs and sells its own branded younger women's fashion products through retail, internet and wholesale channels; and
The parent company, NEXT plc, is listed on the London Stock Exchange #LSE: NXT#L# and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index# Total revenues for the year ended January 2012 were £3#5 billion with underlying pre-tax profits of £570 million# NEXT's head office is located in Enderby on the outskirts of Leicester, England

http://www.next.co.uk/

Proactive investor - Next (LON:NXT) topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard on Tuesday after Oriel Securities gave investors something to cheer with an upgrade to ‘buy’.

The clothing retailer’s stock can still rise some way yet in Oriel’s opinion.

International online sales are set to double in the next two years, which could see the shares climb as high as 6,200p from their current levels of 5,535p, up 135p on the day.

A bullish note on the retail sector lifted Sports Direct (LON:SPD) towards the summit of the benchmark index with the stock boosted by an 850p target price by Liberum Capital.

@ 5572 I've gone short. Seams to be struggling at the moment

+94 pips at the moment, still looks good to hold short.

Nice trade Shortie.

Thanks Skinny, still there's plenty left in this one. I'd don't think I'll see support before 5400.

Nice one shortie. Spreads a bit rich for me Cap Spreads 15 pips.

I'm on 11 pips spread with Cityindex for this (prices above on chart)..

Well done shortie.



5 Dec Citigroup 6,100.00 Buy

@5465 I'm now at +107 pips and considering where to set a stop loss.

personally, i (almost) never set stops as it is all too easy to get shut out on a spike ..... my gut feel is that the market(s) will pop (north!) this afternoon, pretty much regardless of what numbers come in from usa ..... my logic is purely that the markets have tumbled quite a lot over the last few days, so some sort of rally - perhaps short-lived - must be on the cards

5200?!? Think it might break lower.. No stop loss set, think I'll carry on holding..

@5437 my bets now +135, nothing telling me to close the position either.

+119 closed half my short.

@5402 now +170 and testing support.

Next: Deutsche Bank increases target price from 5660p to 5900p, while staying with its buy recommendation.

Shorts cashed in, profit taken, keeping on watch as I'm sure it'll test again.

Is NEXT plc Set For Electrifying Earnings Growth In 2014?
Fool.co.uk
By Royston Wild | Fool.co.uk – 20 hours ago

Today I am looking at the earnings prospects for British retailing institution NEXT (Frankfurt: NXG.F - news) in 2014.

Earnings ready to rumble higher

In my opinion, NEXT (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) is in great shape to punch stratospheric earnings growth next year and beyond. Through a blend of building its brand at home, expanding its presence in overseas markets -- particularly those in red-hot emerging markets in Asia and Latin America -- and maintaining a competitive pricing environment, the retailer has been able to post sustained revenues growth despite enduring difficulties for the average UK customer.

And data released by the Office for National Statistics this week would have no doubt boosted the retail sector's confidence for the year ahead. These showed UK retail sales edge 0.3% higher in November from the previous month, and advance 2% from the corresponding period in 2012. Particularly encouraging for the nation's clothing retailers was that sales of clothes, shoes and textiles led the way, advancing 3.8% last month from October levels.

As well, NEXT would also have been buoyed by news that online transactions hit a record in November, accounting for 11.9% of all sales. The firm has invested heavily in its NEXT Directory online and catalogue division to latch onto appetising growth rates here, and sales here leapt almost 10% in the first nine months of fiscal 2014.

City analysts expect NEXT to follow up strong earnings growth in each of the past four years -- the company has clocked up a compound annual growth rate of 12.3% since 2010 -- with an additional 18% expansion in the 12 months concluding January 2014, to 334.7p per share. Growth is expected to slow to 9% in the following year, to 364.9p, although remains at respectable levels.

These figures leave the retailer dealing on P/E ratings of 16.2 and 14.8 for 2014 and 2015 correspondingly, roughly in line with the forward average for the wider FTSE 100.

A combination of falling inflation in the UK -- the consumer price index (CPI (Other OTC: CPICQ - news) ) struck a four-year low of 2.1% in November -- and improvements in the broader domestic economy could help improve the pressure on consumers' pursestrings could ease significantly looking ahead, a great precursor for the earnings outlook across the British High Street.

Week ahead: US data, Next in focus after Christmas break
Sharecast
Sharecast – 3 hours ago
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LONDON (ShareCast) - Things are set to pick up slightly next week as traders begin to return to their desks following the Christmas break.

Nevertheless, volumes are still expected to be on the light side given that UK markets have a half-session on Tuesday and a day off on Wednesday for the New Year's celebrations.

Things look pretty thin on the ground as far as macroeconomic announcements are concerned, with very little UK data being released.

There will, however, be a raft of US data to watch out for as economic indicators from the States continue to be closely scrutinised following this month's decision by the Federal Reserve to scale back stimulus. US pending home sales are due out on Monday, followed by the Chicago purchasing managers' index and consumer confidence data on Tuesday, jobless claims and ISM manufacturing figures on Thursday and auto sales on Friday.

On the company front, the only notable blue chip to report is High Street retailer Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) , whose fourth-quarter trading update will likely be used as a key gauge for consumer sentiment over the important holiday shopping season.

The company, which operates fashion, children and homewares departments, will probably be under a great deal of pressure to impress given that its sales update will be on the period to December 24th.

Any comments on current trading will also be closely inspected after decent Boxing Day industry figures, which showed that spending at UK stores was up 5.7% on last year as shoppers took advantage of the sales.

5502 gone short..