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Investing.com -- Next Plc (LON:NXT) on Thursday raised its full-year profit forecast after first-quarter sales surged past expectations, but the retailer paused share buybacks as its stock price exceeded internal thresholds.
For the 13 weeks ended April 26, full-price sales rose 11.4% year over year, well above the company’s guidance of 6.5%.
Gains were broad-based, with the U.K. Online up 8.9%, U.K. Retail increasing 5.2%, and International Online jumping 29.6%.
The company said favorable weather likely boosted store performance and may have pulled forward some summer demand.
Next raised its full-year sales growth forecast to 6.0%, from 5.0%, and increased its profit before tax estimate to £1.08 billion from £1.066 billion. Despite the strong quarter, guidance for the rest of the year remains unchanged.
The company halted share buybacks, citing its internal rate of return threshold, which now sets a ceiling of around £116 per share. With the stock trading near £123, further repurchases are off the table for now.
Next has completed £81 million of its £316 million buyback plan and plans to return the remainder via a special dividend in early 2026, assuming no acquisitions.
Analysts at Barclays (LON:BARC) and Jefferies said the performance was materially ahead of expectations.
"There is no specific mention of potential gains from a major competitor’s online disruption (which has now entered its third week). We presume this has helped NXT’s UK online performance in the latter stages of Q1," said analysts at Jefferies in a note
Next shares have risen about 30% since March, outpacing the FTSE 100.