Online and catalogue sales drive Next

Strong growth in Next's online and catalogue business helped the retailer achieve sales that were at the top end of its expectations.Total sales for the first half were up 4.5% against last year, the firm said, topping its prediction of growth between 1% and 4%.Like-for-like sales came in at 2%, beating some analysts' expectations of a rise of just 1%.Sales at its online and catalogue Next Directory arm were up 13.3% on last year making up for high street retail sales which crept up just 0.2%.The firm said sales from new space offsetting lower sales from like for like stores. It has been a miserable first half of the year for retailers as economic fears and terrible weather have kept shoppers away from their stores.Analysts had expected Next Directory, which makes up around a third of the company's revenues, to benefit from the heavy rain.Next added that it was positive about its full year performance."We are modestly increasing and narrowing our sales and profit guidance ranges for the full year," the company said in a trading update."We now anticipate brand sales growth of +2.0% to +4.5% and group profit before tax of £575m to £620m (previously £560m to £610m)."The firm added that it was on track to buy back approximately £200m of shares this year, of which to date it had have spent £112m buying 3.9m shares.