Next takes cautious view amid sales upturn

High street stalwart Next has played down talk of an imminent consumer recovery, saying it does not expect any significant upturn for more than a year.

Nexts performance was boosted by online and catalogue shopping. Picture: Contributed

The cautious outlook came yesterday as the fashion and homeware chain fought back from a sales slump during the big freeze earlier this year.

A trading update revealed that takings in stores were down 0.9 per cent for the half-year to 31 July, but this included a period at the start of the year when they had fallen by 1.9 per cent.

Next’s performance was boosted by stay-at-home online and catalogue shopping, up 8.3 per cent, giving the group an overall 2.3 per cent sales increase, in line with expectations.

Chief executive Lord Wolfson said: “For any sort of consumer recovery to happen we need to see wages growing faster than inflation, which means inflation needs to come down or we need more [economic] growth.”

Despite that, Next raised its guidance for full-year, pre-tax profit to £635-675 million from £615-665m previously.

SCOTT REID