Next Raises Profit Outlook on Better Weather, Consumers’ Wage Hikes

British fashion retailer Next on Monday raised its sales and profit guidance for the year, saying trading had exceeded expectations on the back of warmer weather and a wages boost for consumers, sending its shares higher.

Next, which trades from about 500 stores and online and is considered a barometer of how British consumers are faring, said full price sales in the first seven weeks of its fiscal second quarter were up 9.3 percent versus the…