James Moore: As winter warmers sit on shelves, Next may suffer

Outlook Is the unseasonably warm weather set to put a chill on Next’s forthcoming trading statement? It will be a big a achievement if that isn’t the case this morning.

Next is hardly an M&S, but it has started to look mortal recently. There’s a decent chance that the Indian summer will continue the trend as woolly stuff sits unwanted on its racks and shelves.

Tough for shareholders, then, but they’ve had a great run of it. And even if some of the gloss has been knocked off Next, it’s hardly struggling, particularly when compared to some of its rivals whose own trading statements will be following.

If the warm weather has left Next with a sniffle, what then? Particularly M&S, which has been caught flat-footed by unseasonal weather in the past. Has it learned from its error or is it even now grappling with the early stages of full-scale ‘flu. Anyone got a Kleenex?