logo-loader

Thursday's agenda: What's next for Next?

Last updated: 04:17 19 Mar 2015 AEDT, First published: 05:17 19 Mar 2015 AEDT

next_350_5509c1ef23859

After the Budget in the UK and the FOMC statement in the US on Wednesday, it is in danger of being a case of “after the Lord Mayor’s show” on Thursday.

The market will get the chance to compare the performance of two fashion chains: the heavyweight Next and the up and coming Ted Baker.

Investec says Next’s results should highlight a record year for the firm.

The company issued a trading update right at the end of 2014 so there should not be too many surprises in the rear-view mirror, and most of the attention will focus on what lies ahead.

“Retail space growth and execution on service/multi-channel remain at the heart of NEXT’s evolution. However, the Directory [the catalogue offering] could well be facing declining credit numbers in the UK, and the prospect of cutting its headline interest rate,” Investec’s Alistair Davies said.

Profit before tax should be £10mln or so either side of £775mln, and analysts will be keen to see whether there is any shift in guidance for sales and profit growth in the current year; Next has indicated growth rates of somewhere between +2.5% and +7.5%, and this range could tighten up with a bit more of the year now behind us.

When last we heard from Ted Baker (in early January) it revealed an impressive 22.8% year-on-year increase in retail sales in the eight weeks from 9 November, albeit helped by a 9.2% increase in selling space.

“Sales since Christmas have been particularly strong and we expect to end the year with a clean stock position,” the company said.

Significant announcements expected

Finals: EMIS Group (LON:EMIS), EnQuest (LON:ENQ), Lamprell (LON:LAM), Next (LON:NXT), Ophir Energy (LON:OPHR), Premier Farnell (LON:PFL), Savills (LON:SVS), Ted Baker (LON:TED). Xaar (LON:XAR)

The following widely-held stocks go ex-div on Thursday: Standard Chartered, Low & Bonar

Economic data: EU – ECB monthly bulletin. US – Current account balance; Weekly jobless claims; Philadelphia Fed; Leading indicators

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

7 hours, 9 minutes ago