Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Next: Profits halve last year as pandemic forced store closures
- But retailer lifts profit guidance this year by £30m
- Yesterday, Deliveroo shares slumped 26% in IPO shocker
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverge of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
In last year’s Full Year Results, published just as the UK went into lockdown, we stated that our sector was facing a crisis unprecedented in living memory. We also stated that our strong balance sheet and profit margins would allow us to weather the storm.
Both statements have proved true.
We accelerated part of our planned capital expenditure in the Online business, spending £121m on warehousing and systems.
Next is boosting profit guidance for this year to £700m from £670m on the back of online sales being 60% higher in first 8 weeks of this financial year so far, which has helped offset store closures
Mighty Next posts annual profit of £342m (down from £729m). Total group sales decreased by less than 17pc to £3.6bn compared with £4.4bn last year.
Related: Deliveroo shares slump by 26% on London stock market debut
Asian and European stocks track Wall St gains as the global recovery & President Biden’s infrastructure plan helped traders look past escalating curbs from Covid-19 flareups while Bonds trimmed losses. US 10y yields drop to 1.72%. Gold regains $1700, now $1714. #Bitcoin at $58.9k pic.twitter.com/AIC7l3WUTa