Next: Trading Statement

‌Trading Statement for the Third Quarter

• In the thirteen weeks to 31 October, full price sales1 were up +8.1% versus last year. This was

  +£33m ahead of our guidance of +5.8% for the second half.

• All of the sales over-performance came from our international business. The additional £5m profit from these sales has been offset by increased international operational costs (see page 3).

• We are maintaining our guidance for full year profit2 before tax at £1,255m, up +8.4%.

Our full price sales performance versus last year, by business division, is set out below for the third quarter and the year to date.

1 Full price sales include items sold in Retail Stores and Online, including third-party brands, plus NEXT Finance interest income, but excludes Sale events, Clearance, Total Platform commission and the sales from subsidiaries.

Note, last year's financial year included a 53rd week, so product sales comparisons are given against the corresponding 'offset' weeks last year; i.e. for Q3 we are comparing weeks 27-39 of this year with weeks 28-40 of last year.

2 NEXT Group profit before tax excludes: (1) the cost of brand amortisation and (2) the profit attributable to shares that we do not own in subsidiary companies. Last year's profit excludes profit from the 53rd week. Group profit excludes exceptional profits achieved last year or anticipated for this year.

As expected, growth in the UK has slowed compared to the first half of the year, with full price sales up +2.0% versus last year, in line with our guidance. However, growth has been volatile, with unseasonably warm weather adversely affecting sales in September.

International sales were up +32.2%, against our forecast of +20.5%. Direct sales were up +32.7%, sales through third-party aggregators were up +31.3%. The overperformance on NEXT Direct was driven by the fact that our marketing was more profitable than expected, and this enabled us to increase the amount spent on marketing by +67% versus last year, compared with our guidance of

+42%.

We are maintaining our Q4 full price sales guidance to be up +5.8% versus last year, as summarised below.

‌We expect full price sales in the UK to be up +2.0%, in line with our performance in Q3. International growth is expected to moderate as we trade against stronger aggregator growth in Q4 last year.

Growth in NEXT Finance interest income is expected to increase in Q4, to +3.0%, due to the increase in APR on 'pay-in-3' credit accounts.

Our full year guidance is summarised below, along with our previous guidance shown in grey. Profit guidance is unchanged. Earnings Per Share (EPS) guidance reflects our latest forecasts for surplus cash and share buybacks (see below).

The EU has introduced new tariffs this year, effective from 1 July 2026 and 1 November 2026. These tariffs impose additional costs on online orders that are placed in the EU, when the stock used to fulfil the order is imported from outside the EU. Although we have a large stockholding within the EU (with our partner ZEOS), some of our orders are fulfilled from our UK stockholding and so incur these charges.

Over time we expect to fully mitigate these new tariff costs through adapting our operations and selective modest EU price increases. This year, as we adapt to the tariff change, we expect a net cost increase of around £5m after accounting for other cost savings.

The combination of surplus cash4 and our planned increase in net debt would have generated £535m of funds for distribution to shareholders. However, we recently purchased our Head Office complex in Enderby for £44m, an investment which we estimate delivers an IRR of 8.5%. So, this year, we now anticipate generating a total of £491m for distribution to shareholders.

Our guidance for net debt (excluding lease debt) at the year end is unchanged, at £815m.

To date, we have returned £355m to shareholders through share buybacks, leaving £136m to invest in acquisitions or to distribute to shareholders.

Our guidance assumes that we use the £136m to buy back shares. This may not be possible because the share price is currently above our buyback price limit of £136.50 per share. As a reminder, NEXT share buybacks are subject to achieving a minimum 8% Equivalent Rate of Return (ERR) on the purchase. ERR is calculated by dividing anticipated NEXT Group pre-tax profits by the current market capitalisation5.

In the event we do not make any acquisitions or buy back shares, we will distribute surplus cash through a special dividend or capital distribution.

3 Total Group sales are the sum of total sales (full price and markdown) from all of the Group's divisions plus revenue from subsidiaries and investments. Revenue from subsidiaries and investments is based on our share ownership, e.g. we own 74% of Reiss so we report 74% of their sales. Group sales are not statutory revenue.

4 Surplus cash is defined as cash generated after deducting interest, tax, capital expenditure, funding customer receivables, investments or acquisitions, and ordinary dividends.

5 Market capitalisation is calculated based on the number of shares in circulation, excluding shares in the NEXT Employee Share Option Trust.

On Wednesday 6 January 2027 we are scheduled to give an update on sales to Saturday 26 December 2026.

‌Forward Looking Statements‌

Certain statements in this Trading Update are forward looking statements. These statements may contain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "aim", "expects", "will", or words of similar meaning. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risks, uncertainties or assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by those statements. As such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward looking statements. Except as required by applicable law or regulation, NEXT plc disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update these statements to reflect events occurring after the date these statements were published.