Next sales get weather boost

Fashion chain Next delivered some surprise cheer today after raising profit forecasts for the second time in three months as sunny weather boosted trading.

The firm’s earlier-than-expected update said the much better weather had lifted high street sales by between 2% and 3% in the 25 weeks to July 18.

This left Next with a like-for-like sales decline of 1.9% over the period – far better than the 6% to 9% slump originally feared in the depths of the recession.

The retailer upgraded forecasts by £15m (€17.4m) at its last update in May, but has now added a further £30m (€35m) to internal forecasts for the year as a whole.