British clothing retailer Next defied a rainy summer to smash first-half profit forecasts and its shares hit a lifetime high, but the company said today the second half would not be so spectacular.
Next, which sells mid-price fashion and homewares through more than 350 stores and its Directory catalogue business, said pretax profit rose 30 per cent to £162.7 million sterling in the six months ended in July, trouncing an average forecast of £145 million.
The shares touched a life high in London, rising 4.0 per cent to 1,577 pence by early this morning after out-performing the FTSE General Retailers' index by almost 22 per cent this year.
"They're great numbers, there's no doubt about it. They're sticking to a format which works well, and their performance in the market is exceptionally good. This is the quality play of the big clothing stocks," said Mr Iain McDonald of Numis Securities.
Despite rising interest rates and a soggy summer in its core UK market, group sales rose 15 per cent to £1.294 billion, again comfortably beating the analyst consensus.
Some analysts had feared the vagaries of the British weather and fickle consumer spending would make Next the first casualty of the retail reporting season, but Finance Director Mr David Keens said trading had been robust.