Irish arm of retailer Next enjoyed a 53% bounce in profits last year

The Irish arm of retailer Next enjoyed a 53 per cent bounce in profits last year, its latest results show.
Next Retail (Ireland), which sells clothing, footwear, jewellery, cosmetics and home furnishings across 23 Irish stores, has filed its annual accounts for the year ended January 27th, 2024, with the Companies Registration Office.
It shows the group generated a profit after tax of just over €4 million, which was up from just under €2.7 million the year before. Turnover, however, was down, dropping from €87.7 million in 2023 to just under €86 million.
The group employed an average of 846 employees in the year, which was down marginally from 854 the year before, and spent €13.1 million on staff costs, down from €13.6 million.
The group’s total assets increased by 50 per cent from €11.1 million to €16.7 million. As the year before, no dividends were paid during the financial period, and the directors did not propose the payment of a final dividend.
The company said trade “remains in line with expectations given the nature of the business as a retailer”.
In terms of outlook, it said the challenges faced by the wider group, and in turn the company, are “complex” particularly given the impact of the macroeconomic conditions, citing current levels of inflation in particular.
“The company will continue to focus on managing its overall financial position, cash flows and liquidity whilst trading through its stores,” it added.
The wider Next group is on track to make annual profit of almost £1 billion (€1.2 billion) this year. It raised its outlook for the second time in two months in recent weeks after better-than-expected recent trading.
With more than 800 stores in the UK and Ireland and nearly 8 million online customers, Next is considered a gauge of how consumers are faring.
The group reported a 7.1 per cent rise in first half to July pretax profit and said full-price sales over the first six weeks of its second half had “materially exceeded” its expectations and were up 6.9 per cent.
As a result, Next upgraded its forecast for second-half sales growth to 3.7 per cent, up from previous guidance of 2.5 per cent.
It also now expects full-year 2024/25 profit before tax of £995 million, ahead of previous guidance of £980 million and an 8.4 per cent increase on 2023/24.