Clothing retailer:Clothing retailer Next maintained its annual profit forecast after a first quarter in which the growth of the Directory home-shopping unit compensated for a weather-affected drop in store sales. Pretax profit will be £560 million to £610 million (€689 million to €751 million), the company said yesterday, compared with the prior year's £579.5 million.

Britain’s wettest April since at least 1910 hurt sales at Next stores, which declined 3.9 per cent in the 13 weeks to April 28th. But total sales under the Next brand rose 1.4 per cent in the period, boosted by a 12 per cent increase in revenue at Next Directory.

Chief executive Simon Wolfson said he expected another year of "very subdued retail sales". Next is opening online businesses in Russia and China to spur growth. – (Bloomberg)