Next: Clothing and home retailer exceeds full price sales expectations by £42m

Total group sales for the firm, including markdown, subsidiaries and investments, were up 8 per cent.

The sales have led Next to increase its profit guidance for the full year by £20m, up to £980m. This reflects a 6.7 per cent rise on last year. The firm said that this improvement came from £11m in additional sales and cost savings of £9m, mainly in logistics.

A statement from the company posted to the London Stock Exchange said: “The weather last summer was exceptionally favourable for clothing retailers, so we had planned for full price sales to be down 0.3 per cent in the second quarter this year.

"Our full price sales in the UK (Online and Retail combined) were only slightly ahead of our expectations, up 0.4 per cent; Overseas sales online were much better than expected, and were up +21.9 per cent.

“The additional growth in Group sales came from the acquisition of FatFace and an increase in our shareholding in Reiss, both of which occurred in the third quarter of last year.”

Next announced that it was buying FatFace in October of last year in a £115m deal. The company has over 150 stores across the UK.

In September, Next also increased its equity share in clothing retailer Reiss from 51 per cent to 72 per cent.

Next UK saw its online sales lift 0.6 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, and 2.2 per cent in the first half.

The firm’s total online sales lifted 8.1 per cent in the quarter and 8.4 per cent in the first half.

In retail, however, the firm saw a 4.7 per cent drop in sales in the second quarter, and a 2.6 per cent drop in the first half.

Looking ahead at the full year, Next said it would maintain its guidance for full price sales, but that it expected total group sales to exceed previous expectations.

A statement from the firm said: “We are maintaining our guidance for full price sales in the second half to be up 2.5 per cent versus last year.

“This might seem cautious when compared with the performance in the first half, which was up 4.4 per cent. However, when compared to two years ago, growth in the first half and the forecast for the second half are almost identical.”

“Total group sales for the full year are expected to be up 6.0 per cent on last year, which is 2.6 per cent higher than our expected growth in NEXT Trading full price sales of plus 3.4 per cent.

"The difference is the result of acquisitions completed during last year.”

In a statement on its stock, the company added: “Last year’s surplus stock was particularly low, and was down 22 per cent on the previous year.

“This year we returned to more normal levels of surplus and, as planned, went into sale with surplus stock up 21 per cent on last year (down 5 per cent on two years ago). Clearance rates are in line with our internal forecasts.

Next is scheduled to announce its results for the first half of the year on September 19.