LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - British clothing retailer Next said on Tuesday its sales performance in the run-up toChristmas was disappointing, blaming unusually warm weather inNovember and December, poor stock availability and increasedonline competition.
The firm said Next brand full price sales in the 60 daysfrom Oct. 26 to Dec. 24 were up 0.4 percent
That compares to company guidance for second half growth of3.5-7.5 percent and follows third quarter growth of 6.0 percent.
Next said that thanks to good control of margins, costs andstock, along with healthy clearance rates it still expected tomake a 2015-16 pretax profit of 817 million pounds ($1.20billion), in line with guidance of 810-845 million pounds issuedin October.
($1 = 0.6793 pounds) (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)