Next has announced reduced profits and like-for-like sales down but has performed better than many had expected in its yearly results.


The stores stand alone Home outlets are all proving profitable except one located in a city centre while the other nine are based in out-of-town locations.

Retail like for like (lfl) sales were down 6.5% with the group generating revenues of £3,272m and an operating profit of £478m down 11% from last year

Next also increased its trading space by 305,000 sq feet in the full year bringing its portfolio to 510 stores.

John Barton the chairman of Next has said there are 'significant long term opportunities' for the chain to expand its homeware range.

He said: "Whilst the market for homeware is difficult at present, we believe there are significant long term opportunities for Next to gain market share in this area.

"To this end we have opened 10 stand alone Home stores, all are successful apart from our only city centre store.

"The nine out of town stand alone stores are forecast to make a contribution of 23% and pay back the capital invested in 18 months.

"This year, 120,000 square feet of the new space will be stand alone Home stores in out of town locations."

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