Member Article

Next suffers first profit fall since 2009 amid retail sales decline

UK retailer Next has revealed some gloomy figures for 2016 after suffering its first drop in profits since 2009.

In what the clothing and homewares brand has described as a ‘challenging year’ Next saw its group-wide profits fall by 3.8% in the year ending January 2017, falling from £821m to £790m.

The dip was fuelled by contractions across its traditional retail business with both sales (down 2.9%) and profits (down 15.8%) falling markedly last year.

By contrast, the retailer experienced increases in its online Next Directory business where sales role 4.2% and profits rose by a sizeable 9.6%, up to £444m from £405m a year previous.

The figures, while not as gloomy as some analysts were predicting, represent the scale of the challenge facing one of the UK’s biggest retailers, which has struggled to adapt to changing high street tastes and competition from adroit online rivals.

In a statement, current Next Chairman, John Barton, commented: “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.”

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