Next chairman Lord Wolfson has said in his company’s annual results that 2016 may be the “toughest” year the clothing retailer has faced since 2008.
Total sales increased by 3% to £4.1bn in the year ended January 2016 and the company has posted a 5% increase in profit before tax.
Amanda James has joined the board as group finance director, replacing David Keens.
Lord Wolfson said: “Cash flow remained strong and we returned £568m to shareholders through a combination of £227m of ordinary dividends, and £341m of special dividends. In January the share price fell and we restarted our buyback programme, returning a further £151m.
“We have continued to invest in the business, spending £151m on new stores, a new warehouse and systems. In addition, we changed the credit terms for our directory customers, which increased directory debtors by some £215m. As a result, net debt increased to £850m, well within our bond and bank facilities of £1.3bn.
He added: “The strength of the group is built on the hard work and productivity of all the people who work for Next. I would like to thank them all for their contribution throughout the year.
“The year 2016 will be a challenging one with much uncertainty in the global economy. For Next it makes it particularly important that we remain focused on our core strategy of delivering long-term sustainable growth in EPS, investing in the business, improving the design and quality of our products and returning surplus cash to shareholders.”
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