Next's online revenues in the majority

She said the greater range available in terms of both styles and size give the online operations an edge over physical stores. However, handling an ever-widening range of items has strained the group’s warehouse operations, leading to a 10 per cent increase in average unit costs since 2016. Management has reconfigured some of its warehouse facilities in response and is undergoing a five-year, £310m investment programme to improve capacity.

Profits from Next’s physical retail operations fell by close to a quarter on a 5.5 per cent drop in sales. Here, much of the work has gone into controlling costs while the group rides out the current high-street slowdown. Management has been working to renegotiate rents up for renewal, securing average reductions of 28 per cent. However, where rent reductions haven’t yet been achieved, rates and service costs are still “stubbornly fixed”, contributing to operational leverage that has led to significant margin erosion as sales fall.

Management was relatively sanguine on the potential impact of Brexit, noting that “the warm start to September has done much more to hinder sales than the political temperature”, adding that political events tend to have a material impact on consumer behaviour only when they directly affect income or non-discretionary expenditure.

Bloomberg consensus forecasts are for full-year adjusted EPS of 457p, up from 433p in 2019.