Next shares surge on sales surprise

SHARES in Next jumped 69p to 1398p today as the fashion group confounded City pessimists with news of continued strong sales growth.

Against widespread expectations of a slowdown, sales growth at Next accelerated slightly over the first quarter despite the impact of the poor weather on the High Street.

Most analysts had been expecting little or no growth at the group, which is headed by Simon Wolfson.

Like-for-like sales for the first 14 weeks of its financial year are up by 3.1%, compared with a 3% advance in the first few weeks.

Stripping out the impact of new store openings on existing space, the underlying figure is 4.9%, while total sales are ahead by 17%. The mail order catalogue Directory's growth figure is 13%.

The group now plans to increase net selling space by almost 500,000 square feet this year, boosting total selling space by 17% to 3.3m square feet. The expansion will come via a mix of new store openings and extensions of existing stores.

Marks & Spencer shares added 4 1/2p to 275 1/2p as the City welcomed news of the appointment of Kate Bostock as its new womenswear director. Bostock, who heads the highly successful George range at Asda, is expected to sharpen up buying at M&S, making its ranges more affordable.

The current M&S womenswear head, Steve Longdon, will leave at the end of the month, but M&S would not comment on compensation. Bostock is on six months' notice at Asda and her starting date has still to be agreed.