High street fashion giant Next Plc have agreed to repay some of the millions of pounds of business rates it saved during the emergency economic measures brought in during lockdown.
The fashion chain said latest sales were ahead of expectations and it now anticipates pre-tax profits for the year will be up £30 million on what it originally thought at £750 million.
The business has reported strong online sales since the start of the pandemic, which have made up for a fall in sales from its bricks and mortar stores.
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Shares in the business were up 9 per cent this morning at £80.56.
Sales, it said, were ahead of pre-pandemic levels, with pent-up demand leading to customers treating themselves to new clothes having not bothered during the first lockdown summer last year.
The £29 million in business rates being repaid covers the period when the company had stores open but was not charged the commercial property tax.
In a trading update the Leicestershire headquartered business said sales in the last three months were up 18.6 per cent year-on-year.
It put the strong growth down to pent-up demand for adult clothing, with many customers having made few summer purchases during the last 18 months.
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The retailer also said warm weather at the end of May and start of June helped.
The business said it believed the growth was due to fewer people taking overseas holidays so were spending their cash in the 海角视频 instead, while also splashing out with money saved from the pandemic when bars, restaurants and leisure activities and shops were closed.
Despite the strong overall sales, business in Next’s physical stores remains subdued, with sales down 6 per cent in the 11 weeks to July 17 compared with the same period in 2019.
But this was more than offset by strong growth online – up 44 per cent over the same period compared with two years earlier.
Its online fashion LABEL business – selling third-party brands – was the strongest subsection, up 65 per cent in the quarter, while its own-brand clothes sales rose 28 per cent. Overseas sales were up 61 per cent.
As well as the taxpayer benefiting from Next partially repaying its business rates bill, the company also revealed it plans to pay a special dividend to shareholders later this year.