Next’s January Tidings Provide Positive Pointer for Year

Next Plc is traditionally the first of the U.K.’s big retailers to report Christmas sales and history shows that the report usually provides a reliable share price pointer to the year ahead. In eight of the past nine years, the immediate reaction to the January trading statement has set the tone for the stock’s performance for the year as a whole. With the shares gaining as much as 9.9 percent in response to Wednesday’s better-than-expected holiday sales, investors will be hoping that history can repeat itself again.