UK 03:07 Monday, 21 September 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
I read yesterday that apparently 90% of people polled in one survey thought that the whole Brexit shenanigans are a national embarrassment. I think I am with the crowd on this one...which makes me happy to see a regulatory news statement from my old pals at Next (NXT), which wonderfully observes on the whole future EU relationship debacle: 'we can see no evidence that this uncertainty is affecting consumer behaviour in our sector'. Good news...but then Next, unlike so many of its other sector peers, is a quality operator as I have attested before – and can be seen in its numbers today...
Hello, Share Tweakers. Next (NXT) is another retailer that realises online sales are becoming more dominant over high street stores. And that has paid off. A last-minute burst of computerised Christmas shopping has been especially beneficial, according to the clothing giant.
Happy New Year and all that...it is good - as a larger-cap share watcher - to finally have some proper and pukka newsflow to write about again. It was getting dangerously close to me having to write about the millennial bleating about how stock markets shockingly could actually go down. The even better news is that you do not have to suffer one of my subjective retail runaround pieces akin to my mid-December musings HERE. Back then I observed that;
Ahead of a more comprehensive review of annual broker and tipster activity next week, this week’s article focuses on two expected early-January trading announcements from Next (NXT) and Staffline (STAF). Strong returns on Next shares were wiped out during a disappointing second half to the year, while shareholders of Staffline will be happy with a return of over 20% in 2018. Both updates will be seen as important early indicators for their respective sectors, but are brokers and tipsters bullish about both companies’ future prospects?
As I have noted before, it is probably a good thing that the UK economy is not based on my personal consumption habits, especially when the highlight of my annual 'pre-Christmas trip to the shops' was purchasing an advent calendar marked down from its original price by over 75%... A very cheap way to buy some good quality chocolates (and - naturally - to ascertain the quality level I had to consume days one to fifteen in one sitting).
Interesting times for followers of more UK domestic focused shares in recent days. Both Nigel and I have already discussed BT Group (BT/A) on these pages. Meanwhile elsewhere, fears wax and wane over the omnipresent Brexit negotiations, which appears to be the biggest shorter-term influence on many UK listed names with high UK exposure.
Even a fashion luddite like me knows that clothing retail works best when you have a clear and distinct winter and summer period. The fashionistas and general public alike buy to look on-trend and functional as the temperatures respectively plummet or rise. In that vein then, the recent bout of extended hot weather was a retail bullseye - assuming, of course, that you have sufficient online capability to be active where increasingly the action is.
Well done Next (NXT). Despite the Sunday Times suggesting a retail shocker last Sunday, the waxing and waning of the British weather helped the company to pucker up and generate a positive surprise in its full price sales metric as the company noted in its statement from earlier today:
Back in mid-September I told you to take your trading profits on Next (NXT) at around fifty quid a share. Today's update highlights again that currently the only way to play even UK retail names with good market shares, decent balance sheets and a propensity to chuck out dividends and undertake share buybacks is with a trader's hat on.
