Fashion retailer Next has reported that it is disappointed with its sales over the Christmas period and has blamed the warm weather and stock shortages.
Figures show that sales dropped 0.5% in the 60 days before Christmas, despite its Directory business seeing a 2% rise in revenue, bringing the company’s total sales up only 0.4% year-on-year. However Next’s full year sales to January 2nd increased 3.7% on the previous year.
Commenting, the company said: "We believe that the disappointing performance in the fourth quarter was mainly down to the unusually warm weather in November and December. Whilst warm weather may have been the main reason for a difficult fourth quarter, we would not want to allow difficult trading conditions to mask any mistakes and challenges faced by the business. Specifically, we believe that Next Directory's disappointing sales were compounded by poor stock availability from October onwards."
Regardless of the festive trading period, Next has declared a special dividend of 60p per share which it is representative of the company’s expected cash surplus for the year ahead.
