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Next is expected to generate record profits of £1 billion this year, after the British retailer raised its outlook again thanks to a surge in sales due to the arrival of colder weather.

The FTSE 100 company, which has 458 stores in the UK, said full-price sales rose 7.6 per cent in the third quarter compared with an unusually warm September and start to October for the season, as shoppers bought warmer clothes earlier. The result was 2.6 percent higher than its forecast for the quarter.

The retailer raised its annual forecast for the third time in three months on Wednesday and now expects to make a pre-tax profit of just over £1 billion on total group turnover of 6, £27 billion.

Next is widely recognized as having adapted ably to major changes such as the move to online shopping, while other well-known names have faded from the mainstream.

The retailer raised his September’s forecast profit of £15m to £995m, after finding customers were buying ‘fewer and better things’, having already increased it by £20m to £980m of pounds sterling the previous month.

Chief executive Lord Simon Wolfson said in September that Following had demonstrated over the years a “consistent ability to weather the storm” and sell the right products on the right platforms, as well as “rigorous financial discipline”.

The group’s total sales for the full year to January are expected to rise 7.4 percent from last year, an improvement of 2.5 percent on growth forecasts of 4 .9 percent. Next said its acquisition of 97 percent of Fat Face and an increased stake in Reiss was driving growth.

Investec analyst Kate Calvert praised the company’s “consistent performance” but warned there was “more limited upgrade potential at Next than at other retailers at present.” . She highlighted that the company’s growth drivers, such as international sales, were relatively modest compared to its more mature UK operations.

Richard Chamberlain, analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said that while Next “should benefit from improving real UK disposable incomes”, it would “remain somewhat sensitive to the interest rate outlook”.

In September, the company announced that it planned to target wealthier buyers and was launching a separate website for third-party brands such as APC, which sells clothing costing hundreds of dollars instead of tens, as well as Ganni, Joseph and Rixo.