Next's Christmas sales rise 2.9 percent, lifts 2014 profit guidance.

LONDON (Reuters) - British clothing retailer Next's sales rose 2.9 percent in the run up to Christmas mostly due to online and catalogue purchases, hitting the upper end of its predictions and it said full-year profit would rise by about 11.5 percent.

The group, which does not discount prices before Christmas, said it expected profit for the year to Jan. 24 to be within 10 million pounds on either side of 775 million pounds, 5 million pounds ahead of the midpoint profit guidance it issued in October.

Shares in Next, which have risen 22 percent in the last 12 months, were trading up 3.3 percent at 6,735 pence early on Tuesday, topping the FTSE 100 index. Its rival Marks & Spencer rose 0.2 percent.

Next's Directory Internet and catalogue business was the stand out performer in the run up to Christmas - the 58 days from Oct. 28 to Dec. 24 - posting a 7.5 percent rise in sales. Sales in its stores rose 0.5 percent, it said.

The company said it went into its post-Christmas sale with significantly more stock than last year after an unusually warm autumn weakened demand for winter ranges, but clearance rates had been in line with its expectations.

Next said it had halted its share buy-back programme in October, because the price of the shares were above its limits, and it would instead pay a further special dividend of 50 pence a share.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Karolin Schaps and Susan Thomas)
Culled from Yahoo News.