LONDON BRIEFING: Next cautious on outlook even as its raises guidance Thu, 6th May 2021 08:15 (Alliance News) - UK clothing and homewares retailer Next on Thursday remained as dour as ever on Thursday, even while boosting its full-year profit guidance following a strong first quarter. Investors were more positive. Next shares were up 1.9% in early trade. Next said full price sales were down 1.5% in the 13 weeks to May 1 on two years ago, before the Covid-19 pandemic, which the company said was a more "meaningful" comparison. The FTSE 100 constituent said it had assumed full-price sales during period would be down 10%, but beat this forecast by GBP75 million. Next raised its central guidance for full-year pretax profit by GBP20 million to GBP720 million.