Agenda: Next and Zalando update the market

Next

Next posts its third-quarter results on Wednesday.

The fashion giant posted an increase in half-year profits as it hailed strong growth in full-price sales and its online business. Next registered a 2.7% increase in pre-tax profit to £319.6m during the six months to July 31. Operating profit grew at the slightly quicker rate of 3.1% to £340.9m.

On a statutory basis, including the impact of the new IFRS 16 regulations, pre-tax profit rose 4% to £327.4m.

Next said full-price own-brand sales advanced 4.1% during the six-month period. Including markdowns, total sales of its own-label products were up 3.8%.

Zalando

Zalando posts its third-quarter results on Thursday.

The Germany-based fashion retailer raised its profit outlook to the upper half, after hailing its “strongest-ever second-quarter active customer growth” and fastest site growth since 2013.

Zalando said its adjusted group profits for the second quarter grew 6.4% to €101.7m, while total sales swelled by 20.1% to more than €1.5bn for the period.

The etailer also said it added more than 3.7 million new customers to its ecommerce platform, a 15.2% increase year on year, which brought the total number of users to 28.3 million across Zalando’s 17 European markets.

GFK consumer survey

GFK posts its latest consumer confidence survey on Thursday.

Consumer confidence increased marginally across all measures in September as shoppers delivered mixed results ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline.

Overall consumer confidence increased 2 points month on month to -12 in September, although this was still down on the previous score for September 2018, according to the GfK Consumer Confidence Barometer.

While customer confidence in the general economy over the next 12 months was still distinctly negative, it actually jumped 3 percentage points in September to -35, which prompted GfK to ask “are consumers keeping their fingers crossed in the run-up to October 31?”.

Shoppers’ confidence in their personal finances over the coming year jumped 2 points month on month to 4, compared to 5 in September 2018.

Asda

The deadline for Asda workers to sign new employment contracts is on Saturday – putting 12,000 jobs at risk, according to the GMB union.

Asda workers have been told to sign the new contracts – that would result in the loss of their paid breaks and being forced to work on bank holidays – or be sacked. 

Colleagues from the grocery chain have been protesting up and down the country, and 23,000 workers signed a petition against the new terms, delivered to the company’s HQ last week.