Clothing retailer Next raised its full-year profit outlook for the third time in four months as it reported a 4.8 per cent rise in the first half.

The group, which trades from about 500 stores and online and is often considered a gauge of how British consumers are faring, also said on Thursday it was likely that inflationary pressures on selling prices and operating costs will continue to ease in its 2024/25 year.

For the full 2023/24 year it said it now expected to report pretax profit of £875 million (€1 billion), versus a previous expectation of £845 million and £870.4 million made in the previous year.

It also raised its guidance for full price sales growth to 2.6 per cent from 1.8 per cent previously.

For the six months to July 29th, Next made a pretax profit of £420 million, on full price sales up 3.2 per cent. - Reuters

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