Shares in Next plc (LON:NXT) fell on Wednesday as the company scrapped their dividend amid disastrous sales performance due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The British retailer released full price sales figures that revealed an obliteration of sales during the lockdown with total sales for the year to April 25th down 38%.
Next faced pressure to close their warehouses after failing to implement social distancing measures meaning their website was forced to close.
With stores already closed, Next’s revenue generation was severely limited to the extent the company made no sales in the week commencing 29th March.
Online sales have since resumed but a well below the comparative period last year.
The company has scrapped the dividend to be paid in August and said it is unlikely the January dividend will be paid either. This is estimated to save £220m in an effort to conserve cash.
Next summuarised the results of stress tests and potential scenarios that showed even in the case of a 40% reduction in full year sales, the company would still be EBITDA positive.
“It is hard to think of a time when the outlook for sales and profit has been more difficult to predict. A pandemic of this scale has simply not been experienced by a modern global economy. No amount of information about the past can accurately guide us in our deliberations on the future. Our job is not to guess exactly how things will pan out but to prepare the Company for all outcomes that seem reasonably possible,” Next said in a statement.
“So, the scenarios we set out are just that, scenarios, not guidance, not a forecast. Their purpose is to demonstrate how the business is likely to perform under different levels of stress, without seeking to predict which outcome is most likely.”
“But these stress tests are more than an academic exercise. They serve to inform the decisions we take about the costs we should save, the cash we need to generate and investments we can afford to make.”
“The stress test also serves to demonstrate the financial stability of the Group. NEXT’s historic maintenance of healthy margins and high returns on capital have built a strong base from which to weather the storm: even in our worst case scenario of sales down -40% the Group still is likely to deliver positive EBITDA and reduce year end financial net debt.”
