Clothing group Next brushed aside fears of a slowdown in high street spending with a 30 per cent rise in profits.

The group said a bumper pre-sale period at its 371 outlets reduced the number of items being cleared at mark-down prices.

This boosted margins and pushed profits for the six months to July 31 to £162.7m - higher than the £137m forecast by City analysts.

The improvement also reflected the benefits of moving to larger stores and a higher than expected increase in sales at its Next Directory catalogue operations.

Finance director David Keens warned that conditions may become tougher during the next six months, but the group remained confident of further progress.

Recent retail surveys have pointed to falling consumer confidence following five interest rate rises since November and highlighted the impact of poor weather on sales.

Next, which employs 40,000 people in the UK, said turnover from its high street stores, overseas franchises and catalogue operations rose 30 per cent to £1.29bn.

William Maydon, fund manager at Newcastle-based investment managers, Wise Speke, said: "While spending on the High Street has abated a little of late, with interest rates approaching what is likely to be a peak of about 5.25 per cent some time next year, conditions appear to be bright for Next going forward.

"Next's management have really laid down the gauntlet for Stuart Rose at M&S as well as Philip Green and many other High Street retailers.

"I was very pleased to see that the management's future bonuses have been directly linked to the performance of the share price, which shows the confidence the management have in their own ability."