Latest news with #SimonWolfson
Daily Mail
24-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
MIDAS SHARE TIPS: Joanne Hart's red hot fashion picks are set to sizzle
The stock market has not been a happy place for retailers in recent years, particularly those in the fashion business. Big chains have come and gone, former darlings have become fallen angels, share prices have waxed and waned. Prospects today seem as gruelling as ever, amid rising inflation, economic woes and fierce competition. Yet this type of environment can deliver rich pickings and certain stocks stand out from the pack. Next In the year to January, Next profits topped £1billion for the first time. Buried in the results, chief executive Simon Wolfson mentioned an employee who felt entitled to a new laptop as the business was making so much money. For Wolfson, that logic was flawed. As he explained, Next shareholders have an average of 150 shares each, receiving a dividend of about £350 a year. Those shareholders cannot afford unnecessary expenses – so no new laptops unless employees deserve them. The tale is testament to Wolfson's laser-focused leadership. He became chief executive at the tender age of 33, to some scepticism, not least because his father had chaired Next through the 1990s. But Wolfson junior has proved the doubters wrong. Earnings have soared since he took the helm in 2001 and the shares have risen more than 13-fold to £128.20. The current level is not cheap but reflects a firm with a tip-top record and a clear strategy for growth. In the past, Next was all about its own brand, sold at home. Today, Wolfson has a fast-growing international business, uses other websites to sell Next gear and offers numerous brands on his site, boosting their sales and his bottom line. Brokers forecast a 7 per cent rise in annual profits to £1.08 billion with the dividend rising to £2.50 and the chance of a special extra payout too. The shares may well take a breather after recent momentum. For investors with a long-term horizon, however, there should be further gains. Traded on: main market Ticker: NXT Contact: or 0371 384 2164 Boohoo Just five years ago, Boohoo shares were trading at £4.33, valuing the online fashion retailer at more than £4.5billion. Today, the stock is changing hands at just 21.4p, and the business is worth little more than £300 million. Mistakes, mishaps and mismanagement have hit the business hard, alongside regular beatings from Mike Ashley's Fraser Group, which owns 27 per cent of Boohoo. Amid the carnage, an unlikely success story emerged – Debenhams: bought out of administration in 2021 and now a profitable, online marketplace for around 15,000 brands. The man behind the turnaround, Dan Finley, is now running Boohoo in its entirety. Early days have proved challenging. In March, Finley announced that the group would change its name to Debenhams and the group's youth-focused brands, Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and MAN, would adopt the marketplace model of their older sibling, alongside Karen Millen, another brand within the group. Finley seemed optimistic but brokers were unsettled by falling revenues and the prospect of short-term pain and marked the shares down. The stock has slumped nearly 30 per cent since Finley stepped in. Cautious investors should watch and wait but, if Finley manages to execute his plans, the shares could increase substantially over the next few years. M&S For years, M&S was a byword for British success. In 1997, the group became the first retailer to make £1billion in profit. Shoppers loved it and the shares soared to give the business a market valuation of more than £19billion. It's been a roller coaster ride ever since, as the company lost its way and a succession of bosses tried to put it right. When Stuart Machin became chief executive in 2022, scepticism was rife. Until last month, those doubts were quashed. Machin – and chairman Archie Norman – were taking all the right steps, M&S was back on track and the shares responded with enthusiasm, tripling in three years to £4.12. Then came April's brutal cyber attack. Last week, Machin admitted this savage incident could cost the group £300 million and that disruption is likely to continue until July. However, he also revealed a 22 per cent increase in profits to £875 million for the year to March 29, the highest figure in more than 15 years. Sales rose in food, clothing, homeware and beauty, losses reduced at the joint venture with Ocado and the cyber attack was described as 'a bump in the road'. The dividend also rose 20 per cent to 3.6p. Many shareholders remain unnerved, however, not least because the dividend increase was far less than they had been led to expect. Machin stressed that M&S is in rude financial health but, to many, the cyber commotion has cast a long shadow and the shares are still nearly 9 per cent lower than they were a few weeks ago. This represents an opportunity for patient investors. The next few weeks may be hairy, but the next few years are likely to be far more fruitful. At £3.76, the shares should rebound. Traded on: main market Ticker: MKS Contact: Mulberry Mulberry bags have many fans, from the Princess of Wales to Kate Moss. Investors are less enthusiastic. Trading at £25 in 2012, its shares have tumbled to 76p amid falling sales, rising debts and increasing losses. In September a new boss was brought in. Andrea Baldo has a long history in fashion, most recently at Danish brand Ganni, which he revitalised in store and online. He intends to do even better at Mulberry. First, he is keen to restore faith in the business at home, building on Mulberry's heritage as a Somerset-based brand. Several steps have already been taken, including a vigorous cost-cutting exercise, but there is plenty more to do, not least making sure the bags look good, are well priced and on sale in the right places. Mike Ashley, who owns 37 per cent of Mulberry, has criticised previous management and tried to buy the business last year. Baldo is trying to build bridges and work with its largest shareholder, Challice. Baldo is targeting a 30 per cent increase in sales to more than £200million, solid profits and substantial share price recovery over the medium term. Adventurous investors or Mulberry fans may fancy a punt at 76p. After all, anyone with 500 shares or more is entitled to a 20 per cent discount at top stores.
Bloomberg
09-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Next CEO Wolfson Sells £12.4 Million of Shares at Near-Record
Next Plc Chief Executive Officer Simon Wolfson sold £12.4 million ($16.4 million) of shares in the British clothing and homewares retailer, as the company's guidance boost sent the stock to a record high. Wolfson sold 100,000 shares at £123.62 on Thursday, Next said in a regulatory filing. The sale makes up just under 10% of his holding of about 1 million shares, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company's stock extended a drop after the filing was published on Friday, before paring losses.
The Guardian
08-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Next sales buoyed by unusually warm spring weather in UK
Sales at Next have beaten expectations after unusually warm UK weather boosted the fashion and homeware retailer's summer clothing range. The company, which recently surpassed £1bn in profit for the first time, continued its winning streak on Thursday as it reported that full-price sales rose by 11.4% in the 13 weeks to 26 April, compared with the same period last year. Revenue was £55m higher than initially expected. It said warmer weather had 'benefited the sale of summer-weight clothing'. Shares in Next, a member of the blue-chip FTSE 100 index, have risen by more than 28% so far this year, thanks to a huge expansion overseas and its sales of other brands. The company expects annual pre-tax profits to end its current financial year at £1.08bn, representing a 6% rise compared with last year. While the first quarter had been stronger than expected, the company said this 'over-performance' might have been pulled forward from the second quarter. The retailer, which is led by the Conservative peer Simon Wolfson, has not reported any cyber incidents that have hit other big players in the British retail sector, including its rival Marks & Spencer, as well as the luxury department store Harrods and the Co-op. Analysts at Jefferies investment bank said Next could take some market share while online shopping at M&S remained disrupted. Next's online sales in the UK rose by 9% in its first quarter. The retailer was created in 1982 when the men's tailoring brand Hepworths bought the womenswear chain Kendall & Sons. Next is one of the biggest online fashion businesses in the world, having bought stakes in brands such as Gap, Victoria's Secret and FatFace. Next is only the fourth British retailer to pass the £1bn profit milestone. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The retailer predicts slower revenue growth in the second half of its financial year, especially because sales in the autumn and winter seasons last year were strong. It forecasts 6% total sales growth for the full year.
The Independent
02-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Next to reveal jump in profit despite rising costs and trade war uncertainty
Next is expected to post rising profits next week despite a string of costs increases hitting retailers and broader concerns about UK consumer confidence. The retail giant will reveal its first quarter results on May 8, hot on the heels of profits of more than £1 billion last year. Next, which has more than 450 stores across the UK, reported pre-tax profits of £1.01 billion for the year to January, up 10% compared with the previous year. Its boss, Lord Simon Wolfson, said trading in the opening part of this financial year had been better than expected at the recent update. Next raised its guidance for 2025-26 in response, pencilling in sales growth of 5% to £5.3 billion and profits up 5.4% to £1.07 billion. But Next, like other retailers, has had to contend with a slew of cost increases since it posted its full-year results in March. National insurance contributions (Nics), a tax which makes it more expensive to employ people, went up in April, along with the minimum wage. Meanwhile, UK consumer confidence has also fallen to the lowest level in more than a year amid concerns that Donald Trump's trade tariffs could push up living costs, according to a recent poll by data company GfK. And Next, which sells its products online to the US market, could also see a knock-on impact from Mr Trump's tariffs on sales. Russ Mould, an analyst at AJ Bell, said Next has a 'knack of exceeding expectations – a knack it demonstrated again in March when chief executive Simon Wolfson nudged up expectations for full-price sales and pre-tax profits for the year to January 2026'. He added: 'That positive steer has helped take Next's shares to new all-time highs, despite wider stock market volatility.' Shares were up 27% for the year-to-date on Friday. Next has already said it will have to raise prices by around 1% to offset the impact of Nics and minimum wage increases. Its first quarter results come amid a string of cyber attacks against UK retailers, with Marks & Spencer and Harrods facing issues in recent days. As of Friday morning, M&S was unable to process online orders after shutting down parts of its online systems to deal with a 'cyber incident'. M&S first reported the issue over the Easter weekend but has seen its operations impacted for more than a week.
Bloomberg
28-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Next Can Break the £1 Billion UK Profit Curse
Simon Wolfson, chief executive officer of Next Plc, on Thursday announced pretax profit of £1 billion ($1.3 billion) for the first time in the retailer's history. It's a level of earnings few British store chains reach. For some that have, it has been the prelude to a period of disappointment. But Next can escape the curse of the £1 billion profit retailer. Next's biggest rival Marks & Spencer Group Plc is perhaps best known for suffering from this affliction. The high street stalwart hit the magic number in 1997 and 1998, when it was enjoying a surge in fashion sales, which then accounted for the bulk of its revenue and was very profitable. But to reach that target, M&S invested more in its bodysuits and blazers than in equally stylish stores. Customers eventually noticed. By 1999, after a damaging succession battle, profit had halved.
