Next's Second Quarter Sales Boosted by Britain's Hot Summer

LONDON, United Kingdom — British retailer Next reported a 2.8 percent rise in full-price sales in the second quarter, a better result than it had forecast following exceptionally warm weather that boosted demand for summer ranges.

The company, however, said on Wednesday it was almost certain that some of these sales have been pulled forward from August, so it maintained its sales and profit guidance for the year to January 2019.

The positive performance followed a very strong first quarter for the fashion and homewares retailer against an easy comparative a year ago, which led it to upgrade its profit forecast in May.

It expects full-price sales to grow by 2.2 percent for the year to January 2019, and group profit before tax to dip slightly to 717 million pounds at the centre of its guidance.

Growth continued to be driven by Next's online operation, which recorded sales growth of 12.5 percent in the 12 weeks to July 28. Sales in its retail stores fell 5.9 percent, it said, an acceleration of the 4.8 percent decline seen in the first quarter.

By Paul Sandle; editor: Kate Holton.