Online sales provide relief for Next
NEXT reports full-year results on Thursday, after forecasting at its latest trading update that pre-tax profits were set to rise 11.5 per cent to £775million.
The fashion retailer upped guidance by £5million, when it revealed in December that fullprice sales in the run-up to Christmas had risen by 2.9 per cent - though warning it was "very cautious" about the year ahead.
Stores grew sales by just 0.5 per cent from October 28 to December 24, but the overall performance was boosted by its Next Directory online and catalogue arm - where they were ahead by 7.5 per cent.
It [Next] warned in October that it had been hit by the mild autumn weather
The group said it had gone into its end-of-season sale with "significantly more stock than last year".
It warned in October that it had been hit by the mild autumn weather, which resulted in it lowering profit expectations as it needed to offload goods at a discount.
Numis analyst Matthew Taylor said there was "limited scope for surprises" in the numbers.
Next said in December that it was expecting full-price sales growth in 2015/16 to be between 2.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent, with the first half expected to perform at the lower end of the range.
