Next profits expected to overtake M&S after bumper Christmas

Profits at Next are expected to overtake those of rival Marks and Spencer for the first time this year, after the fashion chain enjoyed a bumper Christmas and announced a £75 million (€90.6 million) special dividend.

Next raised its forecast for full-year pretax profit to between £684 million and £700 million in the year to January 25th, a rise of at least 10 per cent on last year, and up from a previous forecast of £650 million to £680 million. Analysts at Nomura forecast that M&S will make £645 million of pretax profit in the year to March.

Lord Wolfson, chief executive of Next, did not comment on overtaking M&S's profits. Next shares gained 10 per cent to £60.85 yesterday.

Lord Wolfson attributed Next’s strong festive trading to improvements in some of the biggest- selling Christmas categories, including knitwear, nightwear and gifts.

New and improved stores also helped. However, the “game changer” was customers feeling confident enough to order online up until the weekend before Christmas, as well as Next introducing free next-day delivery to stores up to 10pm. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014)