RETAILER Next has said festive sales were better than expected, but warned the trading boost will be "almost entirely" wiped out by the latest lockdowns and higher costs of its end-of-season sale.
The fashion and homewares chain said it now expects pro-rata 52-week annual profits of £370 million for the year to the end of January, against £365 million previously pencilled in.
Profits were on track to hit £393 million before the tighter restrictions and latest lockdown announced on Monday evening.
It warned that total full-price sales are set to tumble by 14 per cent in January, which will leave full-year sales 16 per cent lower.
Next also cautioned that it was seeing stock delays of up to three weeks due to pandemic disruption on shipments from the Far East, which has left stock levels 10 per cent lower than two years ago.
It expects stock issues to "steadily improve" and return to more normal levels by the end of March.
Next is forecasting profits of £670 million for 2021-22, with a sales recovery expected in the final six months of the year.
Next shares jumped 8 per cent higher in morning trading after its update.
