Fashion shares tumble

Concerns in the retail sector were evident as trading worries caused fashion stocks to tumble. Despite Next's good full year results, shares fell 106p to 1640p as the middle market giant said sales since its January 28 year end were worse than expected. The effect was felt at Marks & Spencer, even though it may be taking market share from Next. M&S shares fell 10p to 550p. House of Fraser bucked the trend by beating its sales targets, and shares climbed 0.25p to 117.75p.

Liberty shares were unchanged at 262.5p after the department store posted a pre-tax profit of £200,000 for the six months ended December 31. Results were flattered by property sales, but the underlying period narrowed to £1,6m from £2.3m. A strong Christmas trading period was not enough to offset the effect of the London bombings in July, and revenue fell 5% to £22.4m for the same six-month period.