Next shares rose on Thursday after the retailer once again defied the gloom surrounding the UK economy, with international sales growth matching the UK on a cash basis.

Next reported another strong year with group pre-tax profits of £1.158bn, up 14.5%, while earnings per share surged 17%, beating its own guidance by £8m thanks to strong full-price sales in January and better-than-expected clearance rates.

Full-price sales rose 10.9% across the year to January 2026, with total group sales up 10.8% to just over £7bn.

“Next lifted profit guidance five times during its financial year. So, in many ways, today’s results merely confirm what we already knew. International growth, online strength and steady brick-and-mortar sales delivered a 2025/26 ahead of anyone’s expectations,” said Freetrade analyst Duncan Ferris.

International sales produced the strongest growth on a percentage and cash basis, with overseas sales up 35% and contributing £297m in cash growth.

The UK still delivered growth, with domestic sales rising 7% and adding £254m in cash terms. Third-party brands and wholly-owned labels both grew strongly alongside the core NEXT brand.

Looking ahead, Next is guiding for full-price sales growth of 4.5% and pre-tax profit of £1.21bn in the current year, up £8m from its January guidance on the back of the stronger base. But if history is any guide, investors should expect Next to beat these forecasts. They have a form for under-promising and over-delivering.

“Looking to 2026/27, pre-tax profit growth was always likely to simmer from last year’s level. But add a global spike in oil prices, and Next only expects pre-tax profits to grow by 4.5% this year, below market forecasts heading into results,” explained Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“The Middle East accounts for around 6% of the group’s sales, and the conflict is likely to restrict growth in the region. For now, Next assumes three months of disruption, bringing £15mn of additional costs which it’s been able to offset elsewhere in the business. But if the conflict drags beyond this point, we could see higher prices passed on to consumers.”

The retailer returned £839m to shareholders through a combination of dividends, buybacks and its B Share Scheme capital distribution. The company expects to return £500m to shareholders in the year ahead.

Capita has agreed to sell its private sector contact centre business to Inspirit Capital for the nominal sum of £1, as the outsourcing group continues its push to simplify operations and focus on public services and pensions.

The business being sold generated adjusted revenue of £398.1m in 2025 but ran at an adjusted operating loss of £34.9m, including overhead allocations.

Capita shares were over 10% higher on Thursday as investors reacted to the move, which will help streamline the business and reduce costs.

While the headline price is £1, Capita could receive up to £61.5m in contingent consideration, payable in 2027 and 2028, depending on the performance of the divested business and cash availability under the new owner.

The deal is expected to unlock around £40m in annualised savings across 2026 and 2027, at a cash cost of £20m to achieve. Capita says this should deliver roughly 200 basis points of improvement in adjusted operating margin by 2027, against a current margin of 5.2%.

“The sale of the private sector contact centre business further simplifies the Group and will enhance our margin expansion,” said Adolfo Hernandez, Chief Executive Officer, Capita.

“It enables us to focus on Public Service and Pension Solutions and invest in our technology capabilities to improve our differentiation. This will enhance value creation in markets where technology-enabled transformation is accelerating and where Capita has deep expertise and strong demand.”

Strategic Minerals has delivered a major upgrade to its Redmoor tungsten-tin-copper project in Cornwall, with an updated resource estimate showing a 49% increase in tonnage to 17.4 million tonnes.

The new estimate, completed to JORC (2012) standards, grades at 0.65% tungsten trioxide equivalent and contains 85.8 thousand tonnes of tungsten trioxide, 29 thousand tonnes of tin and 76.3 thousand tonnes of copper. There’s also a sizeable silver credit of over 3.2 million ounces.

Investors cheered the update, and Strategic Minerals shares rose 4% on the news.

Compared to the previous 2019 estimate, contained tungsten is up 31%, tin up 55% and copper up 30% — driven by nine new drillholes completed in 2025, the incorporation of historical 1980s drilling data, and a revised geological model that picked up previously unmodelled mineralisation zones.

Perhaps most significantly for project economics, the potential mine life has more than doubled from 12 to 29 years at the production rate used in the 2020 Scoping Study.

The company also reaffirmed Redmoor’s status as Europe’s highest-grade undeveloped tungsten project, at 0.49% WO₃, among CRIRSCO-compliant resources.

Mark Burnett, Strategic Minerals’ Executive Director, said: “The significant increases in tonnages, contained tungsten and other metals, and the inclusion of silver have provided a transformational uplift in Redmoor’s MRE. Importantly, mineable tonnage has increased 2.4 times and presents the potential for a 29-year life of mine, at the 2020 Scoping Study production rates of 600 Kt/pa, as compared with a 12-year life of mine previously. The Company will now rapidly progress to prefeasibility study (“PFS”) to test these new production scenarios and optimise the model.

“Redmoor is Europe’s highest grade, undeveloped, tungsten resource compared to other CRIRSCO-compliant projects, and amongst the highest grade globally. The Company is committed to advancing Redmoor at pace, with today’s results highlighting the contained metal potential of the Project. A fully funded infill drilling campaign to increase resource confidence for the conversion of inferred to indicated mineral resources is commencing and expected to scale up before the summer through the addition of more drill rigs, with the Company fully focussed on the delivery of the PFS work programme.”

Helium One said its Galactica-Pegasus helium development project in Colorado has completed the first stage of its development campaign, with six wells now tied into the Pinon Canyon facility and initial helium sales agreed.

The AIM-listed explorer, which holds a 50% working interest in the project, provided the update following an announcement from operator Blue Star Helium.

The Jackson-2 and Jackson-4 wells have been installed, tested, and integrated into the facility’s gathering system, joining four other wells already connected. The plant has been producing gas intermittently into an on-site tube trailer during a maintenance and optimisation phase and is now transitioning to round-the-clock operations following the completion of automation and system upgrades.

First helium sales have been agreed at spot pricing, with a second tube trailer expected on site shortly. Helium One said they are working towards 24/7 operations soon, which should translate to steady cash flows.

The commencement of helium sales comes at a time when the global helium market is facing structural supply disruptions, particularly from instability in Middle Eastern supply routes, driving up demand for domestically sourced US supply.

Qatar is the second-largest producer of helium after the USA, and regional disruption has spurred predictions that prices will rise to $2,000 per thousand cubic feet if the conflict isn’t resolved soon.

Blue Star is pursuing a mix of spot sales and longer-term offtake contracts with multiple parties to maximise value as production ramps up.

On the CO₂ side, liquefaction remains on track for the first half of 2026. The tie-in of the Jackson-27 well, which has a CO₂ concentration of 98.3%, is being timed to coincide with the start of CO₂ sales, adding a second revenue stream to the project.

Ethernity Networks shares surged on Wednesday after announcing it is generating ongoing revenue from its Tier-1 US defence and aerospace customer, with additional work now expected to bring in between $0.8m and $1.0m across the current financial year.

Ethernity Networks shares were 44% higher at the time of writing.

The AIM-listed data processing semiconductor specialist completed its original $1.3m single-platform licence agreement with the customer back in August 2025 but has continued to pick up paid work through product enhancements.

It has already recognised $0.2m in revenue from the programme during the first quarter of 2026, with the remaining expected to be recognised in 2026FY. The company generated $598,599 revenue in the six months to June 2025. Full-year 2025 results are yet to be released.

Encouragingly, the customer has begun shipping its platform with Ethernity’s IP embedded and is now evaluating an expansion to a second platform. Any additional licence deal would be on top of the revenue guidance already outlined, though discussions are still in the early stages.

David Levi, CEO of Ethernity Networks, said: “This Tier-1 Customer continues to provide both near-term revenue visibility and potential for further platform expansion. The progression from initial deployment to ongoing enhancement work supports our strategy of deepening engagements with high-value customers.”

ASOS has reported a sharp improvement in profitability in the first half of its financial year, with adjusted EBITDA rising roughly 50% year-on-year despite headwinds from US tariffs.

The online fashion retailer said gross merchandise value fell 9% over the six months to 1 March 2026, but there have been signs of improvement, with GMV increasing by 4 percentage points between the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, and by a further 2 percentage points in the second quarter.

The UK, its biggest market, outperformed the group with GMV down just 5% in the first half.

But the top line isn’t really the main story here. It’s how well ASOS has got its house in order to ensure it doesn’t squander any sales stability.

Encouragingly, margins continued to strengthen, with adjusted gross margin rising 330 basis points to 48.5%, helped by the rollout of its newer commercial and flexible fulfilment models.

Returns rates dropped by around 160 basis points after the company took steps to improve product transparency for customers and cut off customers who persistently made returns.

There were encouraging signs on customer acquisition too, with new customers across its four core markets growing 2% year-on-year.

Womenswear saw a roughly ten percentage point swing in its growth rate compared with the second half of last year, with categories like outerwear, evening dresses, and tops all delivering GMV growth.

Cost discipline remained tight, with fixed costs cut by more than 10% and supply chain costs improving a further 150 basis points, largely through warehouse efficiencies and renegotiated UK distribution contracts.

ASOS reiterated its full-year guidance of EBITDA between £150m and £180m, gross margin improvement of at least 100 basis points to 48-50%, and broadly neutral free cash flow. The company expects GMV trends to keep improving through the year.

ASOS recovery looks to be progressing.

Crest Nicholson said it has seen a sustained pickup in sales since mid-January, shaking off the weak trading conditions that dogged the second half of last year.

In a short and sweet trading update released ahead of its AGM today, the mid-cap housebuilder said its open-market sales rate, excluding bulk deals, hit 0.64 per outlet per week over the 10 weeks to 20 March, up from 0.61 per outlet per week across the whole of the last financial year.

The improvement in the sales rate contrasts with that of peer Bellway, whose sales rate fell over a similar period.

The group acknowledged the broader macroeconomic uncertainty of recent weeks but said it has yet to see any material impact on trading, adding that it remains “alert to the potential risks.” Full-year guidance remains unchanged.

It is now a year since Crest Nicholson unveiled Project Elevate, its strategic pivot from volume housebuilder to mid-premium, customer-focused developer. The company said strong progress has been made, with a further land disposal completed this financial year as it continues to reshape its land bank. A divisional restructuring announced in November has also been wrapped up.

Crest Nicholson shares have lost more than 80% of their value since hitting a peak of around 600p in 2017 but were 10% higher on Wednesday.