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Next, the UK's third-largest clothing retailer, has reported a 14 per cent rise in first-half profits, despite a "challenging" market environment.

The high-street chain said that its profit after tax, for the six months to July, climbed to £141.7 million – up from £124 million for the corresponding period of the previous year.

Next said that the increase was achieved after a "strong" performance by its Next Directory catalogue business and good cost controls offset a flat result recorded by its stores.

The company revealed that Next Directory sales increased by 3.5 per cent over the first half, with growth driven by an increase in the average number of active customers and the inclusion of additional pages in the catalogue devoted to new product areas.

However Next also revealed that like-for-like sales at its shops fell by 3.6 per cent over the first six months of the year and dropped by a further 4.8 per cent in the six weeks from July 29th to September 8th.

Looking ahead to the autumn and winter season, Next chief executive Simon Wolfson said: "We remain cautious about the outlook for the UK consumer and are acutely aware that the full effect of recent interest rate rises has not yet filtered through to our customers.

"However, we are also satisfied that we have made significant improvements to our ranges, marketing and stores," he added stressing that the company expected sales at its stores to climb as a result.

Next has said that it is aiming to "get the magic back" into its brand and expects to spend an additional £18 million on marketing this year in order to promote changes it has made to its product ranges and stores.