Next's full-year profits were up last year, but it predicts sales and profits will fall in the current year.

Profits at the fashion retailer, which has stores in Cheltenham and Gloucester, rose 5.7% to £870.4m in the year to January 2023, as reported by Retail Gazette.

Total trading sales were up 8.4% to £5.15bn, while online sales fell 2% to £3bn.

Despite this strong performance, Next expects sales to fall 1.5% and profits to be down £75m for the current year. But it is confident that it will return to higher levels of growth when the cost-of-living crisis is over.

In recent years, Next has bought a number of failing retailers, including Joules, as well as acquiring stakes in other retailers, such as Reiss. Just this week, it bought Cath Kidston out of administration. 

Next reported that it had managed to minimise price rises for customers, which will be 7% higher in the spring and summer season, rather than the 8% predicted, and 3% in autumn and winter, rather than the 6% predicted.