Snow cost £22m in sales, says Next

Fashion chain Next has said the snow cost it £22 million in lost sales as customers stayed at home during the key Christmas trading period.

The retailer estimated that 2.2% of the season’s total sales were lost as a result of the snow, meaning like-for-like sales in its retail estate were down by 6.1% in the period between August and Christmas Eve.

While it also faced increased competitor discounting in the run-up to Christmas, Next said it remained on track to improve profits by as much as 10% in the year to the end of January.