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/

A very strange broker is Haitong, states a sell in the good times and buy when the company is not doing so well.

3 Nov
Canaccord...
5,125.00
Hold

3 Nov
Beaufort...
N/A
Buy

3 Nov
Deutsche Bank
N/A
Buy

3 Nov
JP Morgan...
5,480.00
Neutral

3 Nov
Societe...
6,098.00
Buy

3 Nov
Credit Suisse
4,600.00
Underperform

Proactive investor - Are Next's glory days over?
Share
09:15 03 Nov 2016
Credit Suisse doubts Next's ability to pass on rising costs and questions the wisdom of continuing to add space

Operating expenditure is rising just as input costs are increasing
Credit Suisse is becoming increasingly concerned about fashion firm Next Plc’s (LON:NXT) ability to maintain its margins.
Operating expenditure is rising and, reflecting sterling’s post-Brexit vote plunge, input costs are on the rise, meaning Next will struggle to pass on higher costs, according to the Swiss bank.
On top of that, Next Brand sales are “looking increasingly mature”, and Credit Suisse (CS) reckons Next’s underlying earnings (EBIT) margins will have peaked at an industry high of 20% in 2015/16.
"The strategy of passing through higher costs, in a deflationary environment, and continuing to add space, seems likely to lead to cost de-leverage, without increasing productivity gains," in CS's view.
“Deteriorating sales growth for Directory (3Q 0%) implies that the only sources of sales growth for Directory are lower margin Label and International,” CS said, as it downgraded the stock to ‘under-perform’ from ‘neutral’.
The target price has been cut to 4,600p from 4,950p

20 Dec
Deutsche Bank
5,950.00
Buy

Six share tips for value investors for 2017


Next
Share price: 4,950p  |  Earnings yield: 9%  |  Dividend yield: 3.2%
In common with many other fashion retailers, by its standards Next (NXT) is having a tough year. Despite new store openings, it's going to struggle to increase revenue in the year to January 2017, and profit is likely to contract by a few percentage points.
That, and perhaps wider concerns about the competition, knocked the share price into value territory. Next doesn't deserve to be there. It's highly profitable with a formidable mail-order operation that it's bringing online.

08:20 03/01/2017
Broker Forecast - Deutsche Bank issues a broker note on Next PLC
Deutsche Bank today downgrades its investment rating on Next PLC (LON:NXT) to hold (from buy) and cut its price target to 5300p (from 5950p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Trading statement

04 Jan Peel Hunt Hold 4,248.00 5,000.00 4,200.00 Retains
04 Jan Shore Capital Sell 4,248.00 - - Reiterates
04 Jan Cantor Fitzgerald Hold 4,248.00 5,200.00 4,600.00 Retains

A slice taken off. Too much?

04 Jan Investec Sell 4,284.00 4,580.00 3,900.00 Reiterates
04 Jan Haitong Securities Buy 4,284.00 - - Reiterates

14% down!!!

£80 just over a year ago.

Is it that bad for Retailers per se?

5 Jan
Shore Capital
N/A
Sell
5 Jan
Citigroup
4,180.00
Neutral
5 Jan
Numis
4,500.00
Hold
5 Jan
Beaufort...
4,300.00
Hold
5 Jan
Deutsche Bank
4,900.00
Hold
5 Jan
Goldman Sachs
4,500.00
Neutral
5 Jan
HSBC
3,530.00
Reduce
5 Jan
JP Morgan...
4,580.00
Neutral
5 Jan
Macquarie
4,200.00
Neutral
5 Jan
Berenberg
4,000.00
Hold

On 6 January 2017, Steve Barber acquired 2,500 Shares in the Company at £41.01 per Share.

Market Buzz
Director dealings: Second Next NXD makes small purchase
Mon, 09 January 2017
Article viewed 44 times


(ShareCast News) - A second Next director has bought a handful of shares in the retailer as the prince wallowed around four year lows.


Senior independent director Francis Salway, the former Land Securities chief who joined the board in 2010, spent just over £50,000 on shares at a price of just over £40.

Last week, fellow non-executive Steve Barber bought 2,500 at £41 not long after Next's gloomy trading update sent the shares tumbling from the near-£50 at which they began the year and set a negative tone for UK non-food retail sector.

Full price sales were much weaker than the market was expecting and the company issued a cautious outlook for the coming year, leading to widespread downgraded forecasts for this year and beyond.



Top Director Buys

Next (NXT)
Director name: Salway,Francis
Amount purchased: 1,250 @ 4,050.00p

NEXT has suddenly become unfashionable ..... with sentiment playing an important role in sp performance, i'ld (sadly) recommend to stay away

The likes of ASOS, Boohoo perhaps playing a big part in shoppers turning their backs.

Not good timing and does not show future confidence only holding 1750 shares

Director Deals - Next PLC (NXT)

BFN

Jonathan Bewes, Non Executive Director, sold 1,750 shares in the company on the 26th January 2017 at a price of 3832.00p. The Director now holds 1,750 shares representing 0.00% of the shares in issue.

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
Director deals data provided by www.directorsholdings.com

9 Mar
Berenberg
4,000.00
Hold

Clothing giant Next poised to report fall in full-year profits for first time since 2009
By City & Finance Reporter for the Daily Mail
Published: 21:50, 19 March 2017 | Updated: 21:50, 19 March 2017


Next is poised to report a fall in full-year profits for the first time since 2009.
It is expected to post a 4 per cent slump in profit on Thursday to £792m in the year to January 31, down from £821.3m last year.
It follows a ‘disastrous’ trading update at the start of the year in which chief executive Lord Wolfson pointed towards a slowdown on spending on clothes as shoppers chose to eat out and go to the cinema.

 Lord Wolfson has warned that 2018’s profits could tumble to between £680m and £780m
He warned that 2017 would be even tougher, with 2018’s profits likely to tumble to between £680m and £780m.
This sent shares tumbling more than 14 per cent, wiping £948m off the firm’s value.
Shares were trading even lower at 3,877p at end of play on Friday – marking a 41 per cent drop since this time last year.

Wolfson, 49, who has been at the helm for 15 years, warned prices would rise by as much as 5 per cent to compensate for the increase in imports due to the fall in the pound.
The pro-Brexit boss said fears over the country’s negotiations to leave the EU would put pressure on the retail sector. 
Next has been battling to keep up with online rivals such as Missguided, Boohoo and Asos, which can respond to trends more quickly and have fewer overheads

Results for the year ending January 2017

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

As anticipated, the year to January 2017 was a challenging year for NEXT, despite this Earnings per share1 declined by only ‑0.3% to 441.3p. We propose to maintain our total full year ordinary dividend flat at 158p.

Whilst total sales2 for NEXT Retail declined by -2.9%, sales for NEXT Directory increased by +4.2%. Total Group sales were broadly flat at £4.1bn for the year.

Cash flow remained strong and we returned £502m to shareholders through a combination of ordinary dividends (£226m), special dividends (£88m) and share buybacks (£188m).

We have continued to invest in the business, spending £161m on new stores, warehousing and systems. Net debt increased to £861m, well within our bond and bank facilities of £1.4bn.

It has already been announced that I will retire from the Board on 1 August 2017. I have been at NEXT for fifteen years and have immensely enjoyed the experience. NEXT is an excellent company and working with the Board and executive team has been extremely stimulating and enjoyable.

I will be succeeded as Chairman by Michael Roney. The Board appointed Michael as a non-executive director, Deputy Chairman and Chairman Designate in February this year. Michael has extensive business experience and has had a long and distinguished career, including as Chief Executive of Bunzl plc. He also has all the qualities that are necessary in a good chairman and I am very confident that he will make an excellent transition into the role.

I am also pleased that Jonathan Bewes has joined us as a non-executive director during the year. Jonathan has a great deal of experience in investment banking, is a Chartered Accountant and is a very good addition to the Board.

Steve Barber, non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Committee, will step down from the Board at the 2017 AGM in May. Steve has made a much valued and active contribution to the Board and I would like to thank him for his service over the last ten years. Jonathan Bewes will take over from Steve as Chairman of the Audit Committee after the AGM.

The strength of the Group is built on the hard work and dedication of all the people who work for NEXT. I would like to thank them all for their contribution throughout the year. I have been Chairman of NEXT since May 2006. In 2008 our profits fell and our share price halved; by the following year our profits had started to grow again and our share price recovered strongly in the following years. Trading conditions in the year ahead will continue to be tough, however I believe that by focusing on our core strengths, as we did during 2008, we will see NEXT emerge from this period stronger than before.


John Barton
Chairman

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