NEXT boss reaps £1bn profit rewards, taking home £4.7m

Retail giant NEXT has revealed it paid its CEO, Lord Simon Wolfson, £4.72 million for the year to January 2025 after hitting the £1 billion profit mark for the first time.

Lord Wolfson's pay was made up of an annual wage of £1.16 million as well as £3.56 million in bonuses. The retailer's annual report stated. This was up by almost £900,000 compared to the year prior.

He received a 2.8% increase to his basic wage, below the 6.8% average for staff in the company as a whole, Next said.

Last month, NEXT revealed an annual profit haul of more than £1 billion for the first time and hiked its outlook for the year ahead, despite worries over the impact of Budget measures on consumer confidence.

The high street retail giant, which has 457 stores across the UK, reported pre-tax profits of £1.01 billion for the year to January, up 10.1% on a year earlier.

It said trading had been better than expected in the first eight weeks since its year-end, helping it to raise its guidance for 2025-26, pencilling in sales growth of 5% to £5.3 billion and profits up 5.4% to £1.07 billion.

However, at the time, Lord Wolfson warned: "We expect the UK tax rises in April to weaken the UK employment market and negatively impact consumer confidence as the year progresses."