British clothing retailer Next beat first-half profit forecasts today and predicted it would cope with increasingly tough trading conditions.
Next, which trades from over 460 shops, said profit before tax and one-off items rose 11 per cent to £198.2 million in the six months to July 29th, as cost cuts and a strong performance from its Next Directory catalogue business helped offset weak shop sales.
Forecasts ranged from £173 million to £193 million. Like-for-like sales at Next's shops fell 3.6 per cent in the first half and were down a further 4.8 per cent in the six weeks to September 8th.
But the group said it expected the sales decline to moderate to between 1 per cent and 3.5 per cent over the second half as a whole and that it was on track to meet analysts' profit forecasts for the full year.
Britain's retailers are struggling as debt-laden shoppers face higher interest rates, while the wettest summer on record has made life hard for clothing sellers.