Next shares jumped 6% as the UK’s second biggest clothing retailer said it would beat its sales expectations for the year.
Despite the unseasonably warm weather this autumn, Next revealed sales have risen for 10 of the last 13 weeks of trading.
The boost comes a month after chief executive Simon Wolfson warned that shoppers were continuing to suffer because inflation was outstripping wage rises and called on the Government to do more to help customers.
Other clothing retailers have suffered in the last few month as customers delayed filling their winter wardrobes due to the weather, yet Next saw sales rise by £30 million in the first three weeks of September compared with the same period a year ago.
As a result, full year profits could be up by as much as 9.4% to £680 million, with sales up by as much as 3.8%, while bosses said strong results could see an additional £50 million spent on share buybacks.
Sales rose 4.3%, with a 10.7% rise in online and Next Directory catalogue sales. High street sales across the UK and Ireland, along with 200 stores in 30 countries overseas, were up 0.4%.
Next is one of the few retailers to break out sales on a week by week basis, showing the impact from the weather – a favourite excuse of most retail chains.
