British retailer Next Plc expects 7% sales growth in FY 2022

“The board is declaring a further special dividend of 160p per share to be paid at the end of January 2022. We intend to return to our pre-pandemic ordinary dividend cycle in the year ahead. We now expect to generate at least £345 million of free cash, before shareholder distributions. On September 3, 2021 we paid a special dividend of 110p per share, with a total value of £140 million. The board has decided to return a further £205 million to shareholders by way of a second special dividend of 160p per share. This dividend will be paid on January 28, 2022 to shareholders registered at the close of business on January 14, 2022.  Shares will trade ex-dividend from January 13, 2022,” Next Plc said in a press release.

For 2022, the company has revised its estimates for selling price inflation in the year ahead, mainly as a result of the unanticipated persistence of higher freight rates into the back end of the year ahead, along with some further increases in manufacturing costs. In addition to the increases in the cost of their goods, they are also experiencing increases in UK operating costs, mainly as a result of UK wage inflation. “We anticipate that average wage inflation across the Next Group will be 5.4 per cent, driven by the increase in the national living wage of 6.6 per cent along with wage inflation in sectors where there are labour shortages, most notably in warehousing and technology,” the release explained.

“In the year ahead we plan to return to our pre-pandemic ordinary dividend cycle, with a final dividend proposed in March 2022 and, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM, paid in August 2022; and an interim dividend declared in September 2022 and paid in January 2023,” the release added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)