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Next stumbles at the third quarter

The clothing chain has a way to go on its road to recovery
November 1, 2017

The road to recovery was never going to be easy, so perhaps it’s no surprise to see Next (NXT) shares lose some of their recent momentum. A third-quarter update revealed some positives: Directory sales rose 13.2 per cent, while sales of full-price items also rose 1.3 per cent – a continued improvement on the second-quarter growth rate of 0.7 per cent. But sales patterns remain extremely volatile, and full-price product did start to struggle towards the end of the period.

IC TIP: Buy at 4,570p

Management also warned that the group faces harsher comparative figures in the final quarter due to a strong Christmas last year.