Next studies Christmas rush however warns of slowdown forward | EUROtoday

Fashion retail chain Next has reported stronger than anticipated gross sales over the important thing Christmas interval however warned rising unemployment might weigh on UK client spending this yr.

Next stated full worth gross sales have been forward of its forecasts after rising 10.6% within the 9 weeks to 27 December in comparison with 2024.

Annual revenue is now forecast to be greater than the corporate initially predicted.

However, the retailer warned that gross sales within the UK wouldn’t develop as rapidly this yr, partly because of the weakening jobs market which has led to rise within the unemployment charge.

Next stated full-price gross sales within the UK rose by 5.9% over the Christmas interval, whereas worldwide revenues jumped by 38.3%.

But for the approaching yr within the UK development will sluggish as a result of a variety of components, together with persevering with “pressures on UK employment” which it stated have been more likely to “filter through into the consumer economy as the year progresses”.

Charles Allen, retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, advised the BBC’s Today programme: “Next has been consistently warning about the slight edge up in unemployment, particularly among younger people, and they remain concerned about that as something that could slow sales down.”

Next additionally stated it will be powerful to match 2025’s efficiency because it had been helped by “very favourable summer weather” and a lift it obtained when rival chain Marks & Spencer was hit by a cyber assault.

Allen stated that total, Next’s outcomes confirmed that “when it came to the peak season, people did go out and spend in the UK”.

But he stated spending was bunched in the previous couple of weeks earlier than Christmas, which was in all probability as a result of individuals ready to see what was introduced within the Budget.

“I think people wanted to see what their finances would look like,” he stated.