The differential between Next’s online directory and retail sales from its chain of fashion and homewares outlets narrowed last year.
Online and catalogue profit at Next was £302.1m, compared to £262.6m the previous year, catching up ground on its retail arm which achieved a profit growth of 2.3% to £331.1m.
Underlying pre-tax profit was up 9% to £621.6m.
Britain’s second-largest clothing retailer said that its online and catalogue business, which grew 9.5%, was a standout performer throughout the financial year ended January 31.
Narrowing the gap with the group’s retail arm, where sales remained level during the tough year of trading, the Next Directory saw profits soar 15.1% year-on-year.
The result was an online and catalogue profit for the company of £302.1 million, compared to £262.6m the previous year, catching up ground considerably on its retail arm which achieved a profit growth of just 2.3% to £331.1m.
This bolstered overall company revenue, excluding vat, up 3.1% to £3.55bn for the year and took underlying pre-tax profit up 9% to £621.6m, compared to £570.3m the previous year.
But the chain, which has over 500 stores across the UK, including in Dundee, Perth, Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, as well as almost 200 more overseas, warned trading in the New Year had got off to a slow start.
Next said it expects trading to “remain subdued” as inflation and wage freezes bite in to consumer spending.
The retailer said the quiet start to 2013 served to reinforce its plans to adopt a more “cautious approach” to the year ahead.
Sales for 2013 had begun at the bottom of the company’s target range, it said, but are expected to improve.
Lord Wolfson, chief executive of Next said: “We will get a better understanding of the underlying consumer environment once temperatures return to seasonal levels.”
“The consumer environment looks set to remain subdued,” he said.
Group chairman John Barton added: “We anticipate another challenging year ahead, with little if any growth in the UK retail economy.”
He said the company had enjoyed another “good year”, performing well in “challenging economic conditions”.
The company said: “In this environment, we will continue to budget for our existing stores to take moderately less than the previous year.”
According to Next, although sales growth was primarily driven by growth in the online retail market, the group also benefitted from “investment in profitable new space” both in the UK and overseas.
The group opened 10 new stores during the period, including five non-clothing related Home outlets.
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