VS Series
Next v ASOS
The high street veteran that went online, and the online native: who makes more of every £100?
Next leads on all five measures that matter most: turnover, pre-tax profit, profit margin, growth and net assets. Next is the biggest by turnover at £6,901m, against £2,478m at ASOS. Next keeps more of every £100 it takes, £17.28 as pre-tax profit.
The year ends are close enough to compare like for like.
Accounts compared: Next to Jan 2026 · ASOS to Aug 2025
Who they are
Next
Next PLC · 04412362Next is a fashion and home retailer, selling its own-brand clothing, footwear and homeware through its shops and website.In brief: fashion and home retailer · own brand plus other brands online · shops and website · listedFull profile →ASOS
ASOS PLC · 04006623ASOS is an online fashion retailer that sells clothing, shoes, accessories and beauty products through its website and app, with no shops of its own.In brief: online fashion retailer · own brands and partner brands · about 17 million customers worldwide · listed on the London Stock ExchangeFull profile →The Numbers
The leader on each measure is marked. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).
Category winners
How they differ
How do Next and ASOS make their money differently?
Next makes money in several ways at once: it sells its own brand in shops and online, takes commission on other brands sold through its website, lends to 3.3 million UK credit customers, and earns from brands it part-owns and runs online for others. Its UK website is its most profitable channel, with an 18.2% margin against 10.2% in its shops. ASOS sells only online, and in the year to August 2025 it was shrinking on purpose: it cut unprofitable orders, lost 14% of its active customers, mothballed its US warehouse and sold most of the Topshop and Topman brands. Next's accounts run to January 2026, ASOS's to August 2025.
This panel reads: Next, NEXT plc (group), year to January 2026; ASOS, ASOS Plc (group), 52 weeks to August 2025. The numbers above use each company's latest figures on Spark Intel, which can be a different year.
How they make it
18.2%margin on its UK website, against 10.2% in shops
UK shops £1,893m and UK website £2,800m. The website made £511m, the shops £193m, after lease interest.
“The table below summarises the sales and profit of our Online UK business (which includes NEXT branded products and our LABEL business, which sells all other non-NEXT brands).”
49%of revenue from the UK
Online only. UK £1,212m, EU £819m, US £258m, rest of the world £189m. Gross margin rose to 47.1% as markdowns fell.
“Our new model - anchored on newness and more relevant product offering to customers - has delivered higher full-price sell-through and structurally lower reliance on markdown.”
Whose brands
20%of full-price sales from third-party brands
73% of full-price sales are NEXT brand. Goods sold on commission count only as the commission: £301m of revenue on £749m that customers paid.
“Under statutory reporting only the commission earned is reported as revenue, instead of reporting the full GTV.”
£135.0mfrom selling a majority of Topshop Topman
Own brands plus partner brands, a growing share sold through models where ASOS does not take the stock risk. It sold a majority of Topshop and Topman and pays royalties to the joint venture.
“This shift broadened our product range without adding inventory risk”
Who buys
£195mprofit from NEXT Finance customer credit
16.1 million customers ordered online, 3.3 million of them on a NEXT credit account. Its lending arm made £195m, after a £20m release of bad-debt provisions.
“We have seen a further improvement in bad debt rates, with a default rate of 2.2%, down from 2.6% last year.”
17.0mactive customers, down from 19.7m
Fewer, bigger orders: shipped orders fell 16% to 57.3 million while the average basket rose to £42.89. Free returns continue in core markets.
“Customer metrics mirrored these dynamics, with active customers decreasing by 14% YoY, and visits tracking this trend, falling by 15%.”
How they are changing
£69minternational digital marketing, up from £43m
Growing overseas: international full-price sales rose 35%, against 7% in the UK, on higher marketing that must return at least £1.50 for every £1.
“More than any other factor, higher spending on profitable marketing has driven growth overseas.”
£175.8mof property-related one-off costs
Cutting back: it mothballed its US fulfilment centre and renegotiated delivery contracts. Most of its one-off costs came from property.
“the significant majority being the result of the mothballing of our US fulfilment centre”
Where the cash goes
£839mreturned to shareholders
Dividends £286.5m, share buybacks £131.4m and a £421.5m capital return through a B share scheme.
“Cash flow remained strong and we returned £839m to shareholders”
£184.7mnet debt before leases
No dividend. It repaid £210.7m of debt, helped by the Topshop Topman sale, and agreed new loans maturing in 2030.
“Excluding lease liabilities, net debt reduced to £184.7m, an improvement of £112.4m YoY.”
Not disclosed
Profit on third-party brands on their own, and customer numbers on aggregator sites such as Zalando.
Profit by country, own-brand sales in pounds, and its returns rate.
Pages quoted: Next pp. 3, 8, 16, 25, 30, 35, 41, 42; ASOS pp. 46, 47, 48, 49, 50.
The two sets of accounts cover different years: Next's to 31 January 2026, ASOS's to 31 August 2025. Next's divisional sales and profits are its own 52-week measures, before brand amortisation and minority interests, and its online sales include third-party goods at full value; the scorecard uses its statutory 53-week figures. ASOS's revenue split and gross margin are from its financial review; its gross margin is adjusted for one-off items. Percentages are our arithmetic from the pages cited.
Sources: NEXT plc, Annual Report and Accounts January 2026; ASOS Plc, Annual Report and Accounts 2025. Page numbers are the documents' own.
The Takeaway
- Next converts the most of its turnover. Of every £100, £17.28 reaches pre-tax profit, against a loss of £11.36 at ASOS.
- Next is the largest on the top line, £6,901m of turnover, 2.8x ASOS's £2,478m.
- Next is growing fastest, turnover +12.8% on its own prior year. ASOS went backwards.
- Next is the biggest employer with 31,589 people; ASOS pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £54,000.
- Next has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £1,781m, while ASOS holds the most cash at £319m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
Next keeps the most: £17.28 of every £100 of turnover becomes pre-tax profit. ASOS does worst, losing £11.36.
Financing bites hardest at ASOS: £2.99 of every £100 goes on interest.
Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.
The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.
Out of every £100 of turnover
Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.
Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?
By turnover the order is Next (£6,901m), ASOS (£2,478m).
By headcount, Next leads with 31,589 employees.
The accounting periods all end within 5 months of each other. All are on the same filing basis.
Turnover on the latest filing
Who is growing fastest?
Next grew fastest, turnover +12.8% on its own prior year, ahead of ASOS (-14.7%).
Turnover change on each company's own prior year
Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?
Next employs the most, 31,589 people, against 2,974 at ASOS.
ASOS has the highest average staff cost, about £54,000 a head; Next the lowest, about £41,000.
ASOS brings in the most turnover per employee, about £833,000, against £218,000 at Next. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.
Who owns each one?
Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.
Owned by its shareholders
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, so no single controller appears on the register. 1 outstanding charge on the register.
Who owns Next →
ASOS PLC · 04006623Owned by its shareholders
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, so no single controller appears on the register. 3 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns ASOS →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | Next | ASOS |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | NEXT PLC | ASOS PLC |
| Company number | 04412362 | 04006623 |
| Incorporated | 2002 | 2000 |
| Accounts filed | 2 June 2026 | 30 January 2026 |
| Turnover, prior year | £6,118m | £2,906m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | £987m | -£379m |
| Staff costs | £1,290m | £161m |
| Payroll share of turnover | 18.7% | 6.5% |
| Employees, prior year | 50,743 | 3,027 |
| Dividends paid | £289m | n/d |
| Charges outstanding | 1 | 3 |
A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.
Next v ASOS: common questions
How do Next and ASOS make their money differently?
Next and ASOS both sell fashion online, but their businesses are built differently. Next, in the year to January 2026, sold mainly its own brand through UK shops (£1,893m) and its UK website (£2,800m), and took commission on third-party brands, which were 20% of full-price sales. Its UK website made an 18.2% margin against 10.2% in its shops. It also lends: NEXT Finance, which runs credit accounts for 3.3 million UK customers, made £195m, and brands it part-owns and the online operations it runs for other brands made £89.7m. Overseas full-price sales rose 35%, driven by £69m of international marketing, and it returned £839m to shareholders. ASOS sells only online, with 49% of revenue from the UK. In the year to August 2025 it deliberately cut unprofitable orders: active customers fell 14% to 17.0 million and orders 16%, while its gross margin rose to 47.1%. It mothballed its US warehouse, sold a majority of the Topshop and Topman brands for £135m, and reduced net debt before leases to £185m. The two sets of accounts cover different years: Next's to January 2026, ASOS's to August 2025.
Who is the biggest of Next or ASOS?
Next, with turnover of £6,901m in the year to January 2026.
Which makes the most profit?
Next: £1,193m pre-tax in the year to January 2026.
Which employs the most people?
Next, with 31,589 employees in its latest accounts.
Next or ASOS: which is bigger?
Next, with turnover of £6,901m against £2,478m at ASOS on their latest filings. On margin, Next keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →
Where do these figures come from?
Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.
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