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* First few weeks of autumn "disappointing"
* First half profit up 2.7%
* Full year guidance maintained
(Adds detail, shares)
By James Davey
LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Clothing retailer Next
made a "disappointing" start to autumn trading which it said was
down to unusually warm British weather, rather than uncertainty
over Britain's EU exit.
Next shares were down 4.1% at 0751 GMT on Thursday, paring
the stock's gains for the year so far to 48.2%, after the gloomy
assessment of the first few weeks of the autumn season.
While it did not give figures, Next said "the warm start to
September has done much more to hinder sales than the political
temperature" and it has not seen any evidence that shoppers are
holding back on small ticket price items due to Brexit.
Britain is due to leave the European Union on Oct. 31, but
the government has yet to agree a new deal, increasing the risk
of a disorderly "no-deal" Brexit.
Next believes Brexit will only materially affect consumer
spending in the event that it triggers inflationary pressure on
prices or logistical problems at British ports.
The retailer also reported a 2.7% rise in first-half profit
as robust online sales more than offset a decline at its stores
and it maintained its forecast for the full 2019-20 year.
STORES PROFITABLE
Next, which trades from about 500 stores in the UK and
Ireland, about 200 stores in 40 countries overseas and its
Directory online business, made a pretax profit of 319.6 million
pounds in the 26 weeks to end-July.
This was up from 311.1 million pounds in the same period
last year, on group sales up 3.7% to 2.06 billion pounds.
Full-price sales at Next's stores fell 3.9% in the period,
but they were up 11.9% online, starkly illustrating the clothing
industry's structural shift from physical stores to online.
However, the firm says its stores will remain profitable
even if they become less productive.
For 2019-20 Next foresees full-price sales up 3.6% and
pretax profit of 725 million pounds, a 0.3% rise on the 2018-19
outcome, with earnings per share growth of 5.2%, reflecting
share buybacks.
(Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle and Alexander
Smith)
