Full price sales at Next for the second quarter to July 30 were up 0.3% on last year, and showed improvement on the first quarter.
The year-to-date figures are -0.3% down on last year. New space added 1.5% to brand sales for the first half. Including sales items, Next retail showed a -0.7% decline and directory showed a 5.4% increase.

Next bosses explained: "We went into the end-of-season sale with significantly more stock than last year, the sale has gone well and clearance rates have been slightly ahead of our expectations."

In terms of post-Brexit, they said: "With only a few weeks since the EU referendum, it would be unwise to draw any firm conclusions of the effect the decision to leave the EU will have on UK consumer demand, particularly as the week after the referendum was an unusually strong week the previous year. So far we can see no clear evidence of any appreciable effect on consumer behaviour, apart from the first few days after the vote."

"In the medium term, the devaluation of the pound is likely to affect the cost price of our goods. There will be no effect on the year to January 2017 as we have fully hedged all our currency exposure."

Looking ahead, the retailer said it expected the consumer environment to "remain tough for the rest of the year," with quarter three projected to be "particularly challenging as it was our best quarter last year (up 6%)."