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/

nice drop..i've been looking for that area with my short but i took too long, better move with asc was coming, much better immune to slump everywhere..:)

Next: Credit Suisse initiates with a target price of 4200p and an outperform recommendation

Next: Buy, Sell Or Hold?
By Zarr Pacificador | Fool.co.uk – 2 hours 12 minutes ago.. .


I'm always searching for shares that can help ordinary investors like you make money from the stock market.

Right now I am trawling through the FTSE 100 (FTSE Index: EO100.FGI - news) (UKX) and giving my verdict on every member of the blue-chip index.

I hope to pinpoint the very best buying opportunities in today's uncertain market, as well as highlight those shares I feel you should hold… and those I feel you should sell!

I'm assessing every share on five different measures. Here's what I'm looking for in each company:

1. Financial strength: low levels of debt and other liabilities;

2. Profitability: consistent earnings and high profit margins;

3. Management: competent executives creating shareholder value;

4. Long-term prospects: a solid competitive position and respectable growth prospects, and;

5. Valuation: an underrated share price.

A look at Next (Berlin: NXG.BE - news)

Today I'm evaluating Next , a UK-based retailer that sells clothing, footwear, accessories and home products, which currently trades at 3,599p. Here are my thoughts:

1. Financial strength: Next has significant gearing of 334% with net debt at £574m, but it remains financially strong with interest cover a hefty 21 times and robust cash flow from operations, which has averaged around £550m for 10 years.

2. Profitability: Next has performed remarkably well this past decade, increasing sales and profits every year, except during the global financial crisis of 2008. Sales have grown at a modest rate of 5% annually but earnings per share and free cash flow have compounded by 15% per year, enhanced by share buy-backs and expanding operating margins from 14% to 17%. The company has been a model of business efficiency producing extraordinary returns on equity (ROE) and returns on capital employed (ROCE), averaging 159% and 72%, respectively, for a decade.

3. Management: Credit should be given to Next's management for delivering exceptional results in a highly competitive sector and for continuing to perform well despite the tough economic environment of the last few years. Also, it has been the company's practice to give back surplus cash to shareholders, returning a total of £3.2bn over the last 10 years in dividends and share repurchases.

4. Long-term prospects: Next has over 500 stores in the UK and Eire and 200 franchised stores worldwide. The majority of its retail space is extremely profitable, and the group sees a lot more opportunities for profitable expansion within the UK. The company's shopping catalogue and website, Next Directory, has been a major driver of its success and now contributes about 31% of the group's sales and 43% of its profits. It has around three million active customers and will be available in 61 countries by the end of 2012.

5. Valuation: Based on the latest company guidance, earnings per share is expected to be around 280p and dividends per share around 100p for the year, which would give Next a not so cheap forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 13 and a modest dividend yield of 3%.

My verdict on Next

Next's performance this past decade has been extraordinary and it is not a surprise its shares have performed extremely well -- compounding by an annual rate of 17%. It is a well-managed company that has consistently produced strong profits and cash flows. However, at 13 times forecast earnings, I think it is already reasonably priced and does not provide a sufficient margin of safety in case of adverse events or if business conditions become less than ideal. Especially given the tough competition in the retail sector and the company's huge debt load, things could deteriorate quickly.

So, overall, I believe Next at 3,599p looks like a hold.

Further company analysis is available at www.fool.co.uk.

In the meantime, please stay tuned for my next verdict on a FTSE 100 share.

SP fully recovered

Next: Goldman Sachs raises target price from 2600p to 3800p and upgrades to neutral.

Next has been cautiously optimistic about its trading prospects since the beginning of the year, so that its no surprise after a late third-quarter sales rebound in September and October , group executive director Andrew Varley has decided tobeef up his holdings . Mr Varley bought 10,000 shares at 3,648p on 3 dec, bringing his total to 69,817. The general retail sector has outperformed the broader UK stock market this year. According to the CBI,retail sales picked up to the first half of October and this momentum is expected to continue in the run up to christmas. Nexts share price has been ticking up steadily too, and is now trading at 3,706 a five year high. But trading conditions are tough and will remain so, as household budgets get squeezed even further by rising inflation. Several large retail chains have gone bust this year . Even next's management has urged caution, saying sales performance remained volatlile.

No stopping Next at the moment

New high again this morning @3750.

Next: Deutsche Bank raises target price from 3650p to 4100p and reiterates its buy recommendation.

I see this thing is doing nice too..are you still loaded dc?

EXCUSE ME ''THING'' Cannot tell you if I am loaded . lol


Do you still have that ASOS junk. lol ?

'Asos junk'..ha ha ..well yea..for that ill not tell u too.lol

Well done with asos

you too with next, always top job to get all time highs.

Retailers were in focus on news they are experiencing weak footfall, according to data from the British Retail Consortium. Meanwhile, dismal official UK retail sales data for November underlined the challenge.

Supermarket operators were hit the reports of a slow lead-up to Christmas, with Tesco down 1.65p at 338.15p, Morrisons off 0.7p at 264.6p and Sainsbury 0.3p lower at 352.9p. Fashion house Next slipped 41p at 3,729p.

DC - as posted on a few occasions, of uk high street retailers, i too like NXT, though i do not currently hold ..... thought the company was long in the doldrums with boring merchandise and other malaise, it is now trying to take on Zara (an excellent outfit if you'll excuse the pun), and its comparatively recent foray into internet shopping is also proving most successful

for all that, i am still disinclined to buy into any high street retailer - you only need to look down your own high street or shopping mall to see why

Agree cynic, happy christmas by the way. I do not hold either . Interesting how the christmas period goes for them.

Next figures give first guide to festive sales

All eyes will be on Ftse 100 (FTSE: ^FTSE - news) high street titan Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) on Thursday, as the retail bellwether offer up some of the sector's first hard news on festive sales.

Next set to reveal dip in festive shopping.

Fashion retailer Next is expected to reveal a sales slowdown this week as the festive spirit failed to temp shoppers to splash cash. The firm is tipped to post a 2% fall in high street sales over the christmas period when it becomes the first of the nations top retailers to report seasonal figures on Thursday. This is down on the 1.1% rise seen in the previous three months. Its online directory business is likely to have performed better with a 10% rise However this is down from the 16.9% increase produced last christmas. Analysts Seymour Pierce said next's rivals Marks & Spencer and Debenhams which report later in January have also struggled. It said womenswear sales at M & S would continue to disappoint while promotions at Debenhams will have failed to spark a consumer uplift.

Thursday preview: Next benefits from festive shopping sales
Wed 02 Jan 2013

Next 3,772.00p +1.70%


LONDON (SHARECAST) - Hot off the heels of festive trading Next is scheduled to report a strong fourth quarter performance.

The UK’s second-biggest clothing retailer will Thursday unveil its sales results for the Christmas period.

The full year profit before tax estimate was put at £598m by Nomura Equity Research.

The broker predicted the company would deliver full year brand sales of up to 4%, based on data which showed clothing sales were up 6% in November.

Next's trading update follows reports of average trading across the wider retail sector in the run up to Christmas.

Results were boosted by Boxing Day sales as an estimated 10m UK consumers scrambled get their hands on good deals. Next stores opened doors as early as 06:00 on December 26th to deal with demand.

Online sales also soared to unprecedented levels this year with shoppers searching for bargains on retail websites.

“The Next ‘formula’ is likely to continue - modest space growth, supplemented by good online sales, margin management and share buy-backs imply double-digit total shareholder returns, in our opinion,” Nomura said.
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Fashion chain Next (LON:NXT) reports on January 3 in what Panmure Gordon calls “the first moment of truth from a quoted [retail] company”.

The broker is neutral on Next, but observes that the retailer “has been backing trends strongly and has stuck to its no discounting policy,” and could surprise to the upside.

Espirito Santo is also neutral on Next, which will be giving sales figures for the 21 weeks ended just before Christmas.

As Next has already reported fiscal third quarter sales for the August to October period, Espirito Santo has concentrated on forecasting sales for the eight weeks of November and December.

For this period, it estimates UK Brand sales growth of 4.0%, which would represent a slowdown from the implied circa 6% growth in September and October, following a weak August (-3%) performance when we were all apparently too busy watching sport on the telly to go out and buy a summer outfit.

“Within this we assume Next Retail grew sales 1.3% for the 21 weeks and +1.6% for the 8 weeks (with LFL sales down -1.3% and -1% for the same periods). In contrast we anticipate Directory sales continued to benefit from online demand increasing, despite the annualisation of the benefit of a 9pm cut-off for next day delivery. Hence, we forecast Directory sales growth of 6.5% for the 21 weeks and 8% for the 8 weeks, down from 13% in the 1H but up from +5.6% in the 3Q,” the bank’s retail analyst, Caroline Gulliver says.