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Next annual profit jumps 12.5 pct

Reuters - UK Focus

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - British clothing retailer Next (EUREX: NXTI.EX - news) met guidance with a 12.5 percent rise in year profit, powered by sales growth at both its stores and Directory internet business.

The firm, which trades from over 500 stores in Britain and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) and almost 200 stores overseas, said on Thursday it made an underlying profit before tax of 782 million pounds ($1.16 billion) in the year to end-Jan. 2015.

That compares to Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) 's own guidance of 765-785 million pounds and 695 million pounds made in the 2013-14 year.

Underlying earnings per share (EPS) rose 15 percent to 420 pence and the ordinary dividend was increased by 16 percent to 150 pence a share.

Next forecast sales growth of 1.5-5.5 percent for its 2015-16 year, with pretax profit of 785-835 million pounds. ($1 = 0.6716 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)