Relief in City as Next steps forward with sales growth

0 The retailer said the recent heatwave helped to achieve the better-than-expected increase Shares in high-street bellwether Next surged yesterday on news of a better-thanexpected jump in total secondquarter full-price sales.

They were up by 0.7 per cent in the three months to 29 July, boosted by the recent heatwave, as an 11.4 per cent rise in Directory sales helped offset another steep fall across its high-street stores. It also marked an improvement on the 3 per cent drop in the previous period and came despite a 7.4 per cent drop in sales across its high-street shops. However, the group kept its guidance for full-year profits to fall to between £680 million and £740m, but slightly raised its sales outlook.

Lee Wild, Interactive Investor’s head of equity strategy, said there was “a palpable sense of relief in City circles” on publication of the figures, adding: “It’s been a shocking 20 months for Next but a dramatic market reaction to better-than-feared Q2 results shows just how much bad news is baked into the share price.”