Source: Wikimedia Commons. A Next store

UK clothing giant Next have exceeded sales expectations, signalling a “strong statement” for the UK economy, according to analysts.

The British clothing retailer overdelivered in their most recent earnings call, reporting a 10.5% rise in full-price sales from the previous fiscal quarter.

The FTSE 100 index saw a climb of 5% in morning trading, with Next shares reaching record highs of £3140.55 per share.

The retailer, long led by chief executive Lord Simon Wolfson, has bolstered its full-year pre-tax profit forecasts by £30 million to £1.13 billion for 2025, representing a 12% increase over the previous year.

These results are reported off the back of superior profitability and resilience compared it’s competitors.

ASOS, the UK based e-tailing powerhouse and one Next’s main low-cost competitors failed to exhibit the same the same growth in its third quarter with the company announcing its customer base had declined by 14 per cent.

JD Sports Fashion, another Next rival also reported a 3 per cent drop in UK like-for-like sales in 2025 trading update, reflecting the growing problems of British consumerism.

As reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as of July 2025, total retail sales volumes in Great Britain remain 2.2 per cent below their pre-pandemic levels.

A rather dullish outlook for UK retailers, this data came in advance of the core ONS inflation data in September.

The data saw 0.1 per cent drop in September core inflation to 3.5 per cent, compared to 3.6 per cent in the previous month, nonetheless, continuing to exceed the UK government’s target of 2 per cent.

In the case of Next, investors are remaining positive however.

JP Morgan analyst Georgina Johanan claimed the retailer’s results, across the board, to be a ‘strong statement’.

A shared sentiment, Richard Chamberlain and Manjari Dhar, analysts at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) report, via Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), that Next is trading ‘stronger than expected’.

They continue, stating that “Next has offered investors a strong cash-returns historically”.

In addition, strong domestic sales, the retailer has reported improved International Sales which rose by 38.8% in their third quarter compared with their overseas sales a year ago.

Next plans to return its expected £369 million of surplus cash as a ‘special’ dividend.