Considering 9% revenue growth and a 100-basis-point increase in S&P Global Ratings-adjusted EBITDA margin to 20.1%, Next PLC's reported operating results for fiscal year ended Jan 27, 2024 (fiscal 2024) are markedly better than our base-case expectations for the same period. The group?s financial credit metrics have also shown substantial strength, materially exceeding our expectations. We think that, as the inflationary pressures abate and consumer confidence improves, Next will likely invest in various avenues of growth or favor additional shareholder returns, thereby normalizing its discretionary cash flow (DCF) to debt at 18%-24% over fiscals 2025-2026. We therefore affirmed our 'BBB/A-2' long- and short-term issuer credit ratings on Next. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Next's strong operating performance will
