Fashion and home furnishings retailer Next has reported a growth in half year sales and profit.

According to its latest trading update for the six months to July 2024, total sales rose 8% to £2.9bn from £2.7bn in 2023.

Pre-tax profit resulted at £452m, up 7.1% from £422m recorded against the same period last year.

Online sales rose 7% to £1.6bn, while retail store sales were down 2.1% to £867m. Finance revenues increased 4.9% to £150m.

Within its Next Label business, Home sales rose 6.8% to £42m from £39m during the period.

Due to the positive performance, Next has raised its full year guidance with sales expected to be up 6.6% and profit to be 8.4% up on last year, a growth of £15m to £995m.

Furthermore, Next expects to open five new mainline stores this year, four of which will open in the second half of the year – adding to the one that opened during the reported period, which is ‘trading well’.

“This year feels like the start of a new phase in the Company’s development,” the group said. “We anticipate delivering 9.7% growth in earnings per share, a number we have not achieved for some time.

“We enter this new era in a more positive frame of mind with new avenues of growth and a more stable business. Retail sales have stabilised and, though the shift to Online may not have run its course, its effects are much diminished; not least because Retail is a much smaller part of our business.

“The UK business, as expected, only grew by +1.0%, held back by tough comparisons with last year’s exceptionally warm Q2. The NEXT brand was down -0.9% in the UK; this is potentially worrying and warrants further analysis. We believe the underperformance was mainly because our fashion ranges did so well during the exceptionally warm weather last year. The sharp recovery in the last six weeks, as weather comparatives have materially turned in our favour, is confirmation of this theory.

“Despite the adverse weather comparatives, our LABEL (non-NEXT brands) business experienced something of a revival, growing by +5.5%. In the first half of last year, sales of third-party brands flatlined, mainly as a result of the work we did to eliminate loss making brands and products, surrendering sales to build back margin.”