Next sees high street sales fall again

Enderby-based retail giant Next saw its hight street sales fall again in the third quarter of the financial year.

The firm’s suffered a 7.7% fall in retail revenues, while its online continued to grow – with sales up 13.2%.

Overall for the quarter to 29 October, Next saw sales grow by 1.3%, but year to date revenues are still down 0.3% on last year.

Next has narrowed its full year results guidance to an upper limit of 1.25% growth and a lower limit of -1.75%.

A statement from the firm read: “Week by week sales volatility makes it very hard to determine any underlying sales trend. We believe the most reliable guide to sales for the balance of the year are the full price sales for the year to date, which are down -0.3%. This number is at the mid-point of the sales guidance we gave in September and so we are maintaining the central profit guidance we issued at that time, albeit we are narrowing the range.”