UP 16.4%

But that didn’t harm rival Ted Baker, who announced bumper results.

While Ted Baker are much smaller than Next, their sales still jumped 16.4 per cent to £531million last year, with profits up 4.4 per cent to £61.3million.

Founder and boss Ray Kelvin said: “We have continued to trade well offset two consecutive months of decline in December and January.

Across the three months to February, sales by volume were down 1.4 per cent after the largest decrease since March 2010 and only the second fall since and develop, despite a backdrop of ongoing external challenges across our global markets. This success reflects the strength and appeal of the brand as well as the outstanding quality of our collections.”

Lord Wolfson warned that Next were “extremely cautious about the year ahead”. December 2013. The drop came as petrol forecourt prices leapt 18.7 per cent year on year, helping to push average store prices, including fuel, 2.8 per cent higher – the largest growth since March 2012.