Retail giant Next has raised its annual profit forecast for the second time this year.

Warm spring weather drove a £55m boost in sales, with full-price sales up 11.4% in the 13 weeks to April 26 - well ahead of the 6.5% increase it had forecast, as reported by Retail Gazette.

The retailer, which has stores in Cheltenham and Gloucester, now expects to post a pre-tax profit of £1.08bn for the 2025/26 financial year - an increase on its previous forecast of £1.066bn.

UK retail sales increased by 5.2%, while total UK online sales rose by 8.9%, including a 15.7% rise in third-party label sales. Overseas online sales were up by 29.6%.

Next believes some of the sales rise was due to people buying clothing they would have usually bought in the second quarter. Because of this, it said it isn't increasing its sales guidance for Q2 or the remainder of the year and is keeping full-year sales guidance at 6%.

The retailer said that shop sales tend to benefit disproportionately from good weather, so is not expecting its retail trading to continue rising at the same rate.