Young, successful, experienced, Next’s management team appears to have it all, which may explain the company’s performance.

Chief executive Simon Wolfson, Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, owns shares worth 33 times his ''1.5m pay and bonuses:

Wolfson is 44, which means he was appointed retail sales director in his mid twenties, and chief executive in his early thirties (in 2001).

His fellow executive board members have similar depth of experience, the finance director joined the board in 1991, the property director in 1990, and the product director in 2000 after a decade as menswear and then womenswear director.

Stating the obvious then, this management team is responsible for Next’s considerable success, and since Wolfson’s colleagues all own stakes of between ''2m and ''5m, they’re probably committed shareholders too.

Curiously, Wolfson’s House of Lords biography reveals he has shares in French Connection, a retailer that I have been comparing unfavourably to Next.