Next’s warning spooks high street shares

Next has lowered its sales forecast for the year, sending its shares plunging the most since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, as slowing growth in consumers’ incomes threatens to hit spending at the UK clothing retailer.

The stock slid as much as 15% in London yesterday, the steepest drop since March 2000.

Chief executive Simon Wolfson likened the year ahead to “walking up the down escalator, with a great deal of effort required to stand still”.