Next ups profit forecast on strong Christmas sales

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Next (Other OTC: NXGPF - news) , Britain's second largest clothing retailer, raised its annual profit forecast after fourth quarter sales came in significantly ahead of its previous guidance.

The firm said on Friday it expected a year to end-January 2014 pretax profit of 684-700 million pounds ($1.12-$1.15 billion).

Its previous forecast was 650-680 million pounds.

Next, which unlike rivals has a long standing policy of never going on sale before Christmas, said total sales rose 11.9 percent in the Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 period and are now up 5.0 percent year to date.

That compares with a rise of 4.3 percent in its third quarter and previous company guidance for full year sales growth of 2.0-3.75 percent.

Next was again reliant on a strong performance from its Directory internet and catalogue business, where sales soared 21 percent.

Sales at its over 500 stores in Britain and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) and about 200 stores in over 30 countries overseas increased 7.7 percent.