Next: Boss of FTSE 100 giant rewarded after £1bn profit
The chief executive of FTSE 100 giant Next took home almost £5m as the high street icon’s profit surged to more than £1bn for the first time.
Lord Simon Wolfson took home a total pay packet of £4.72m for the Leicester-headquartered retailer’s latest financial year, up from £4.63m.
The CEO’s remuneration package included a salary of £1.16m and £3.56m in bonus payments, according to Next’s annual report.
Lord Wolfson was also handed £2.55m through the group’s long-term incentive plan.
Next also confirmed that the CEO’s base salary will rise by 2.8 per cent to £971,000 for its current financial year.
The annual report comes after City AM reported at the end of March that Next’s pre-tax profit had topped £1bn for the first time, a rise of 10.1 per cent.
Total sales rose by 8.2 per cent to £6.32bn last year, with just under two-thirds of those sales generated in the UK.
Next also upgraded its sales and profit guidance for next year by 6.5 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively. It expects £1.06bn in pre-tax profit in 2026.
Next and Trump’s tariffs
In recent days, Next’s share price has been hit by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The announcement saw Next’s stock fall from 11,455p to 10,670p before bouncing back to 11,010p at the close on Wednesday.
But according to analysts, UK heavyweights who aren’t exposed to the US market, like Next and M&S, may end up seeing some silver linings from Trump’s tariffs.
Only a few UK retailers – namely JD Sports, Doc Martens and Burberry – sell to the states and produce in eastern Asia.
Berenberg analysts said that positives from the turmoil for the UK may include lower input costs as suppliers in China and other Far East countries divert more production and supply to the UK.
“Best placed in this situation to benefit from lower input costs are those retailers with zero or negligible US sales exposure that source mainly from the Far East, such as DFS Furniture, Marks & Spencer, Next, Dunelm, Kingfisher and Zalando,” they wrote.
The analysts added that if Chinese and south Asian countries reduce prices, UK consumers “could benefit from deflation in non-food categories such as clothes and toys, which could boost retail sales volumes”.
However, head of retail at RSM UK Jacqui Baker noted the effect of “another layer of uncertainty” which “will impact purchasing decisions, future supply chains and ultimately hit already squeezed margins”.