High street fashion chain Next has revealed that profits for the last year were slashed by more than half after its stores were shut for large periods.
The Leicester-based company told the stock exchange today that pre-tax profits slid from £728 million to £342 million for the year ending in January 2021.
It said this slump was driven by covid-19 costs and lower sales due to lockdown restrictions, with group sales dropping from £4.36 billion to £3.62 billion for the year.
Net debt has reduced to £610 million, down from £1.1 billion the previous year.
The company also said it had "accelerated" capital expenditure into its online operations by spending £121 million on warehousing and systems.
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In a statement, Next chairman Michael Roney said: "I believe that in difficult times there is a clearer separation between the stronger corporate performers and the weaker ones.
"This result is due to the formation of a good management team and the establishment of robust processes during less volatile periods.
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"Our continued investment over many years in our people and our systems has shown resilient results in the past year. In April 2020, we stated our intention to suspend all capital returns to shareholders for the duration of the financial year and until the situation stabilises.
"Given the continuing uncertainty around when our stores will reopen, no final dividend is proposed for 2020/21 and our share buyback programme remains suspended.
"We remain committed to returning capital to shareholders in the long term and will review our position later in the year when we have better visibility of our trade once our stores reopen.
"We expect the shift in consumer behaviour towards online sales to continue for some time and one of our priorities during the year has been to continue the development of our online platform."