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/

The chart is impressive....even during the bad times the sp stood its ground ...remarkable.....missed out here.....damn.....never was keen on the retailers.....my mistake....

Results For The Year Ending January 2014

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4776088

Market pleasing - Next Plc FY pretax profit rises 11.8% to £695.2m

Next enjoys strong sales and profit growth

StockMarketWire.com

Fashion retailer Next said it has had another good year, achieving 5.4% growth in sales to £3.74bn and 11.8% growth in underlying profit before tax to £695.2m.

Strong cash generation enabled it to buy back 3.8% of shares outstanding without increasing financial leverage which, along with a lower tax rate, resulted in earnings per share (EPS) growing much faster than profits.

In the year to January 2014, underlying post-tax EPS grew by 23% to 366.1p.

Full year dividend is being increased in line with EPS, to 129p in total.

John Barton, Chairman, said:

'The year to January 2014 was a great year for NEXT. Underlying earnings per share grew by 23% to 366p and we propose to increase our full year ordinary dividends by 23% to 129p in total. This is the fifth consecutive year that our earnings per share and ordinary dividend have grown by over 15%. In addition, in February we paid a special dividend of 50p a share and have announced a further special dividend of 50p to be paid in May.

Sales for NEXT Directory, our online and catalogue business, grew by 12.4% narrowing the gap with NEXT Retail, which grew by 1.7%. The two businesses are complementary and support each other in an effective and efficient way. Operating margins in both businesses increased during the year. The Group's underlying profit before tax rose 11.8% to £695m.

Cash flow was again strong and we continued our share buybacks, purchasing 6.2 million shares at an average price of £47.40 and reducing our shares in issue by 3.8%. During the year we returned £461m to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends.

Our share price again performed well, rising by 55% to £62.80. As a result of the increase, we stopped buying back our own shares at the end of October and have instead started to return surplus cash to shareholders through special dividends. We will reconsider buybacks when to do so would give an effective 8% return on the cash invested.

During the year there have been a number of changes to the Board. Andrew Varley, who had been a director for 23 years, retired from the Board in May 2013. Andrew has been with NEXT for 29 years, serving in various senior roles. On behalf of the Board I would like to thank him for all he has done for NEXT, particularly as our Group Property Director.

Christine Cross, who has made a much valued and active contribution to the Group as a Non-Executive Director, has served for 9 years and will step down from the Board at the AGM in May. We are currently searching for a new non-executive and will make an announcement in due course. Jonathan Dawson, our Senior Independent Director who has also served 9 years, has agreed to stay on the Board for one further year.

I am delighted to welcome onto the Board Michael Law, our Group Operations Director, and Jane Shields, our Group Sales and Marketing Director. Both joined the Board last July.

The strength of our Group is built on the hard work and productivity of our management team and all the people who work for NEXT. I would like to thank them all for their contribution during the year and especially for the excellent performance through the busy Christmas period.

That performance gives us a solid platform for 2014. Our strategy remains the same, focused on our products, our profitability and returning cash to our shareholders. Notwithstanding the continued pressure on the UK consumer, we anticipate another year of growth for NEXT.

Next: Deutsche Bank raises target price from 6100p to 6300p and retains its hold recommendation. Nomura increases target price from 6500p to 7025p and maintains a buy recommendation. Citi takes target price from 7000p to 7400p and leaves its buy recommendation unaltered. Barclays increases target price from 5650p to 6200p and retains an equal-weight rating.

UBS hikes target price for Next by a quarter

Tue, 25 March 201


UBS has hiked its target price for Next by nearly a quarter after the High Street retailer raised its guidance for the current financial year.

Alongside its annual results last week, Next said it now expects 4-8% growth in Brand sales for the year ending January 2015, compared with the 1-4% estimate it gave the year before.

UBS has lifted its target from 5,650p to 7,000p, but kept a ‘neutral’ rating on the stock.

The shares trade at 17 times earnings for the 2014 calendar year, which UBS said is a modest premium to the sector and well ahead of the stock’s long-term average.

“However, given strong and stable cash flows, and international potential, we think a premium is justified,” it said.

UBS pointed out that Next’s Brand sales growth in the year just gone was the strongest since 2006.

“As well as improving sales trends, what marks Next out is the ability to trade full price, which helps gross margin, brand strength and gifting sales.

“As its original customer base ages (the chain was aimed at 20-30 year old women at launch 30 years ago), Next has also succeeded in filling the pipe at the younger end through focusing on fashion as well as style, and widening the appeal of the brand to other product categories.”

The stock was 1.1% higher at 6,790p by 10:43 on Tuesday

Lol.

I know someone who bought these at 75p years ago and still have them.

Next PLC (NXT:LSE) set a new 52-week high during today's trading session when it reached 6,960. Over this period, the share price is up 59.44%.

.

Ex divi Wed 2 April - 50.0p

The boss of Next NXT.L , Britain's second-biggest clothing retailer, is to hand his 4 million pound ($6.70 million) bonus to the company's staff, sharing it amongst them as a 1.5 percent boost to their annual salaries. Next's chief executive, Simon Wolfson cited the company's strong performance for his decision to share the annual award with Next's 20,000 staff, the second time he has done so. Over the last three years, the retailer's profits per share have grown 65 percent and its share price has trebled. "As a result of these exceptional gains, my share matching plan (SMP) bonus has become more valuable than I could possibly have hoped. I am also in the very fortunate position to have significantly benefited as a shareholder," Wolfson, who sits in Britain's upper house of Parliament, said in the letter. "In these circumstances, instead of accepting the award, I have asked the board if they will share it amongst all those who have worked for the company during the three year SMP qualifying period." The bonus would be paid in May to all employees who have worked with the firm since April 28, 2011. In March, Next posted a 12 percent rise in annual profits to 695.2 million pounds, driven by booming sales at its online business - a figure likely to top that of rival Marks & Spencer MKS.L for the first time.

15 Apr Espirito... 5,500.00 Sell

23 Apr Deutsche Bank 6,300.00 Hold

Interim Management Statement

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4800920

really upbeat RNS
now fred can tell us that it's all an illusion or a freak and is no reflection at all on uk retail health buoyed by a strongly recovering economy

Sharecast -

Next shares up with events despite strong Q1, says Investec

Wed, 30 April 2014


Shares in Next are up with events, according to Investec, despite a better-than-expected first-quarter update and raised guidance from the high street retail group on Wednesday.

The broker said that stock now trades at 15.8 times current-year estimated earnings, in line with others in the sector.

"We view Next as a core holding, but with the shares trading on a sector average price-to-earnings rating, we believe the valuation is up with events and retain our 'hold' recommendation."

Next Brand sales for the first 13 weeks of the financial year were up 10.8%, with new space contributing 2.2% to growth. This is well ahead of the 4-8% full-year growth guidance the company gave in March.

The company has now raised its growth guidance for total Brand sales for the financial year ending January 2015 to 5.5-9.5%.

Full-year profit before tax (PBT) is expected to total £750-790m, up 8-14% over the year, ahead of the previous target of £730-770m which would have represented 5-11% growth.

Investec has lifted its PBT forecast for the company by 3.6% to £780m but pointed out that Next benefited from weaker comparatives in the first quarter, with last year seeing a particularly cold spring and Easter holiday.

"Comps are expected to get tougher as the year progresses," the broker said.

Investec kept a 6,700p target price for the stock.

The stock was down 0.5% at 6,450p by 11:25.

Next PLC raises guidance and proposes special divi

By John Harrington

April 30 2014, 8:59am
The mid-point of Next's new profit before tax guidance is now £770mln and accordingly it is increasing its share buy back price limit to £64.00.



Fashion chain Next (LON:NXT) is increasing its guidance and paying a special dividend after a strong start to 2014.

Having previously tipped off the market to look for top line growth of between 4% and 8% in fiscal 2014/15, the company has shifted the range higher to 5.5%-9.5%.

The move follows a sparkling first quarter, in which sales were up 10.8% year-on-year, of which just 2.2 percentage points were down to the opening of profitable new space.

Next Retail sales were up 8.8% and Next Directory, the catalogue and online offering, was up 13.7%.

Next is never one to go overboard in its outlook statements and acknowledged that the new guidance range might “look conservative” given it is below the growth levels seen in the first quarter, but noted that the first 13 weeks of the financial year were always likely to show strong growth from a year ago due to the weather in the early weeks of 2013 being particularly cold and miserable.

The company now expects full-year profit before tax to fall in the range of £750mln to £790mln, representing a £20mln increase at both ends of the range over previous guidance.

In recognition of this, the company has proposed a third special dividend of 50p per share, payable to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 11 July. That will bring the total dividend for the year to 143p.

Shares in Next were up 1% at 6,555p after an hour of trading.