[ad_1]
Next is to open twice as much new store space this year as it previously expected, having secured big rent reductions on stores that it originally expected to close.
The fashion retailer said it would add 100,000 sq ft of space this year against an earlier estimate of 50,000 sq ft. It reiterated that rents were falling by an average of 28 per cent when it renewed leases, though it declined to give details about specific locations.
Simon Wolfson, chief executive, said conversations with landlords were “non-confrontational” and that he sympathised with their predicament. “We [retailers] bid rents up to where they are today. We can’t complain about rents that we voluntarily entered into,” he said.
“But we have to make a certain level of profit to keep a store open.”
Last year, Next’s revenues from online sales overtook those of its physical estate, and results for the six months to July showed online sales topping £1bn at the half-year stage for the first time.
But it still operates 507 stores, a number that has changed little in a decade, while selling space has actually grown by almost 40 per cent to 8.4m sq ft as the company moved to bigger out-of-town sites and introduced more concessions.
These include in-store branches of Costa Coffee and stationer Paperchase. By next year it expects to add 37 travel agents and four mobile phone operators, generating total forecast income of £15m.
The company said warm weather had made for a difficult start to autumn, but expected a strong fourth quarter and reiterated its full-year pre-tax profit forecast of £725m.
[ad_2]
READ SOURCE
