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Festive joy for Next as sales jump | Festive joy for Next as sales jump |
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Sales at Next have unexpectedly risen over the Christmas period, prompting the fashion retailer to raise its profit forecast. | Sales at Next have unexpectedly risen over the Christmas period, prompting the fashion retailer to raise its profit forecast. |
Cold weather boosted trade ahead of Christmas, sending full-price sales up 1.5% - far better than the 0.3% fall it had expected. | |
A 13.6% rise in online sales offset a 6.1% decline in store sales in the 54 days to 24 December. | |
As a result Next said annual profits were expected to rise by £8m to £725m. | |
That remained considerably lower than the £790.2 million for the year to January 2017. | |
The retailer warned that many of the challenges it faced last year, such as subdued consumer demand and lower spending on clothing, would persist in 2018. | |
"However, we believe that some of these headwinds will ease as we move through the year. We already know that cost price inflation will reduce to 2% in the first half and believe it will disappear in the second half," Next said. | |
Richard Lim of Retail Economics said the figures highlight the shift towards online spending from the high street. | |
"The cooler weather is likely to have played a helping hand, but these results set the tone for a tough Christmas," he said. | "The cooler weather is likely to have played a helping hand, but these results set the tone for a tough Christmas," he said. |
The fashion clothing market was becoming more competitive because of nimble online players, a prolonged period of sales kicked off by Black Friday and an increase in operating costs, Mr Lim added. |