Next cheered by online trading

The group, which operates 520 stores, said high street sales between August and Christmas Eve were down 2.7 per cent on a year earlier, despite the previous year’s figures being hit by cold weather.

This was more than offset by a 16.9 per cent rise at its online and catalogue Directory business. Overall sales for the Next brand were 3.1 per cent higher, in line with its guidance in November.

Although the final week before Christmas was strong, overall sales in November and December were “disappointing”, as it refused to discount stock and maintained its profit margins.

But more people left their shopping until after Christmas when Next put on a high profile sale, which it said “went well”.

The group narrowed its full-year profits guidance to £7m either side of £565m, compared to £551m a year earlier.

However, it said profits next year would only show a slight improvement amid challenging conditions for consumers.