Profit upgrade at Next raises hopes UK shoppers still keen to spend
Next has raised hopes that UK consumers are still willing to spend despite pressures on household budgets, as it revealed sales and profit growth “materially above” expectations,The clothing and homeware retailer said it benefited from a sunny summer, the online shutdown of its rival Marks & Spencer for several weeks after an Easter cyber-attack, and an improvement in clothing supplies from countries such as Bangladesh compared with last year,Next, which now owns the UK rights to the US brands Gap and Victoria’s Secret as well as stakes in a plethora of labels including Reiss and Joules, raised its annual profit guidance by £30m – its fourth upgrade in eight months,Shares rose more than 7% on the news, making Next the top riser on the FTSE 100 on Wednesday morning,Analysts said the retailer, which now expects full-year profits of £1.
14bn compared with £987m last year, had proved “largely immune” to the pressures of a weak consumer environment and fears about November’s budget in the UK.Julie Palmer, a partner at the advisory company Begbies Traynor, said: “Next has once again proven why it’s the gold standard in UK retail.“At a time when many retailers are feeling the squeeze from rising costs, weak consumer confidence and uncertainty around the next budget, Next appears largely immune to such pressures.Instead, with a growing international presence and consistently strong UK performance, the FTSE 100 retailer remains firmly on a winning streak.”David Hughes, at Shore Capital, said the pace of growth was “materially above guidance”, adding: “This strong performance despite a challenging consumer environment is a reflection of the quality of the Next proposition.
”However, Mark Crouch, a market analyst at eToro, said Next’s numbers could suggest the consumer economy was stronger than the City believed,“Either Lord Wolfson and his team have cracked the code of middle-England spending, or they’re quietly signalling that the cost of living crisis has passed its peak,Whatever the case, if this is what a ‘weaker economy’ looks like, investors may need to redraw their assumptions,”Next said it had outperformed its quite modest expectations in both the UK and overseas,Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionSales in the UK rose 5.
4% in the three months to 25 October, a slowdown from the 7.6% growth in the prior six months, when it benefited from the cyber-attack on M&S, but well above the 1.9% expected.Growth was led by its Label online business, which sells a broad range of brands, from Rixo to Nike, where sales rose 12.6%.
Sales in UK stores rose 2%, and its online Next brand business increased by 4.2%.International sales rose by 39%, compared with 28% in the previous six months, as Next said it had spent more on marketing.The company said it had £369m in surplus cash and expected to pass much of that to shareholders with a special dividend in January.
UK must reform drug pricing to become life sciences superpower, says GSK boss
GSK’s outgoing chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has said Britain will struggle to be a “life sciences superpower” unless it overhauls drug pricing.As ministers draw up proposals to increase the amount the NHS spends on new medicines by up to 25%, Walmsley said she was “hopeful and ambitious” that the standoff with the pharma industry could be resolved.According to the Academy of Medical Sciences, the government’s drug pricing announcement could come by the end of this week.Walmsley, who will hand over the top job to Luke Miels, currently GSK’s chief commercial officer, at the end of the year, said: “What everyone is putting their energy into, hopefully resolving, is how we make sure this country creates the right commercial environment.“Without that, it’s going to be very difficult to be able to be a leading life sciences superpower, which is what we want … and we are not going to secure something else we all want, which is patient access to innovation
Toyota denies promising to invest $10bn in US after Trump announcement
The Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor has denied Donald Trump’s suggestion that it is poised to invest more than $10bn in the United States over the coming years.On a visit to Japan earlier this week, the US president claimed he had been told that the carmaker was going to be setting up factories “all over” the US “to the tune of over $10bn”.“Go out and buy a Toyota,” added Trump.But a senior executive at Toyota – the world’s largest automaker – said that no such explicit promise of investment at that level had been made, although Toyota plans to invest and create new jobs in the US.The firm held talks with Japanese and American officials ahead of Trump’s visit
So it’s goodbye to lower interest rates – to be honest, the RBA was always looking for an excuse not to cut | Greg Jericho
Is there a release of economic data that can more quickly dash people’s hopes than inflation? Prior to Wednesday’s release of the September quarter CPI figures, there was a pretty good chance that on Melbourne Cup day the Reserve Bank of Australia would cut interest rates.Now that hope is gone.The quarterly inflation growth of 1.2% was roughly double what economists and investors were expecting:If the graph does not display click hereSo it’s goodbye to lowering interest rates – but to be honest the Reserve Bank was always looking for an excuse not to cut them.On Monday night, the governor of the Reserve Bank, Michele Bullock, was sanguine about the rise in unemployment
Profit upgrade at Next raises hopes UK shoppers still keen to spend
Next has raised hopes that UK consumers are still willing to spend despite pressures on household budgets, as it revealed sales and profit growth “materially above” expectations.The clothing and homeware retailer said it benefited from a sunny summer, the online shutdown of its rival Marks & Spencer for several weeks after an Easter cyber-attack, and an improvement in clothing supplies from countries such as Bangladesh compared with last year.Next, which now owns the UK rights to the US brands Gap and Victoria’s Secret as well as stakes in a plethora of labels including Reiss and Joules, raised its annual profit guidance by £30m – its fourth upgrade in eight months.Shares rose more than 7% on the news, making Next the top riser on the FTSE 100 on Wednesday morning.Analysts said the retailer, which now expects full-year profits of £1
Santander urges ministers to intervene in UK car finance compensation scheme
Santander UK has urged the government to intervene in the £11bn car finance compensation scheme, claiming that the current proposals could end up inflicting “significant” harm to consumers, jobs and the broader economy.The comments mark some of the strongest criticism to date of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) redress scheme, which is meant to draw a line under 14m historic car loan contracts that may be deemed unfair because of commission arrangements between lenders and car dealers.The Spanish-owned UK lender has come out swinging, calling on the government to take action and push for “material changes” to the City regulator’s proposals, which are out for consultation following a landmark supreme court hearing in August.The chief executive of Santander UK, Mike Regnier, said: “We believe that the level of concern in the industry and market is such that material changes to the proposed FCA redress scheme should be an active consideration for the UK government.“Without such change, the unintended consequences for the car finance market, the supply of credit and the resulting negative impact on the automotive industry and its supply chain could significantly impact jobs, growth and the broader UK economy
Aston Martin cuts investment plan by £300m as Trump tariffs bite
Aston Martin has slashed £300m from its investment plans after the British carmaker reported a bigger than expected loss in the third quarter because of Donald Trump’s tariffs and weak demand in China.The company said on Wednesday that losses before tax were £112m in the third quarter of 2025, a ninefold increase from £12m a year earlier.The brand, whose products are best known for featuring in the James Bond film franchise, has been buffeted by global pressures during a five-year turnaround effort that has been marked by perennial heavy losses.Aston Martin had already warned earlier this month that this year’s profits would be lower than previously expected because of a decline in sales. It sold 1,430 cars to retailers during the third quarter of 2025, down 13% compared with the period last year
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