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/

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
..



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..

Trading Statement

Sales Performance to 24 December 2013
Sales in the fourth quarter have been significantly ahead of our expectations. The table below sets out sales growth for the NEXT Brand, broken down into Retail and Directory. Sales for the year to date are now +1.25% ahead of the top end of the guidance we gave in our October Interim Management Statement.


Profit and EPS Guidance for the Full Year to 25 January 2014
A strong fourth quarter has meant that sales are now ahead of the top end of our previous guidance. As a result we are raising our profit forecast range, which is now £684m to £700m. During the year we have purchased and cancelled 6.2 million NEXT shares, at a total cost of £296m. The combination of profit growth, share buybacks and a lower corporation tax rate should result in growth in underlying EPS of between 21% and 24%. Our new guidance ranges are set out below.

Deutsche Bank Hold 5,530.00 5,530.00 5,900.00 5,900.00 Reiterates

Dividend Declaration
Special dividend

Further to the release of its Trading Statement earlier this morning, the Company confirms that a special dividend of 50 pence per share will be paid on 3 February 2014 to those members on the Company's register at the close of business on 17 January 2014. Shares will trade ex-dividend from 15 January 2014.

that's a hell of a breakout

Next raises profit forecasts as Britain goes mad for Christmas jumpers

By Jamie Nimmo

January 03 2014, 7:43am
Next raises profit forecasts as Britain goes mad for Christmas jumpers

Clothing retailer Next (LON:NXT) followed in the footsteps of John Lewis and House of Fraser by revealing bumper festive sales, which were “significantly ahead of our expectations”.

The High Street stalwart also proved Debenhams’ poor sales, which prompted a profit warning on Tuesday, were a problem of its own making as it raised its full-year profit guidance.

A strong fourth quarter means the retailer now predicts profit of between £684mln and £700mln for the 12 months to January 25.

The bottom end of this new guidance would represent 10% growth, while the upper end would imply a 12.6% increase.

Store sales were up 7.7% from November 1 to December 24, while Directory sales – items ordered online and using the catalogue – jumped 21% in the same period, meaning an overall rise of 11.9%.

Next put the strong performance in the crucial Christmas shopping period down to the popularity of its Christmas jumpers and nightwear.

It warned that this trend may not continue into the first half of the new financial year and said it could be difficult to match the sales in the same period finishing January 2015, especially since it predicts no pick-up in consumer spending this year.

It has also decided to pay a special dividend of 50p a share on February 3 to shareholders on the books by January 17 given low interest rates.

Next said it expects to returns another £300mln of surplus cash to investors either through more quarterly special dividends or buybacks, depending on the share price

A 'lollipop' on a candle chart!

fantastic figures ..... what more to say?

Bad luck Debenhams :-))

debenhams = bad buying more than anything else

shortie are you still short your 5502 ? are you alive ?