Graduates looking to get into the retail sector will be interested to know that fashion chain Next remains on course to grow sales and profits this year, despite fears of a post-election slowdown.
And if the company is on target, there may be hope that new graduate retail jobs will open up in stores around the country.
Next said it had been encouraged by figures for the 13 weeks of trading to May 1.
High street sales were up 2.8% and its Directory arm trading was ahead 7.2%, while like-for-like sales including the online business rose 2.2%.
Bosses at the company said predictions had taken into account the expected slowdown after the election, but they were confident the year would end in sales and profits growth.
It said profits for the year to January were on course to be near the top end of current City forecasts of between ??525 million and ??565 million.
The fashion and homewares chain warned that trading over the rest of the financial year would be impacted by tougher prior year comparatives and the impact of action to tackle the country's budget deficit.
"Whatever form this action takes, it is likely that it will act to restrain growth in consumer spending," Next said in a trading statement.
The firm enjoyed a resurgent performance in 2009 after it refocused the business to aggressively back new products and trends.
It made a series of profit upgrades throughout last year as sales continued to surprise on the upside, thanks also to improving consumer confidence and efforts to offset pricing pressures caused by the weak pound.
