Results for the Year To January 2013

NEXT has had another good year, achieving 3.1% growth in sales and 9.0% growth in underlying profit before tax. Strong cash generation allowed us to buy back 4.5% of shares outstanding which, along with a lower tax rate, resulted in EPS growing much faster than profits.

Financial highlights are as follows:

• Sales up 3.1% to £3,548m
• Underlying profit before tax up 9.0% to £622m
• Net cash inflow of £472m before £148m dividends and £242m share buybacks 
• Underlying earnings per share up 16.6% to 297.7p 
• Full year dividend 105p, up 16.7%