Enthusiastic UK shoppers boost growth hopes as spending on cards increases October 13, 2014 Shoppers are splashing out more in almost every area of spending, Barclaycard numbers showed yesterday, indicating there is more life yet in the economic recovery. Overall, spending on cards last month was 4.8 per cent higher than it was in September last year – the fastest annual increase since May 2013. Spending in restaurants jumped [...]
Retailers cheer as sales recover September 8, 2014 RETAIL sales picked up again in August, with the high street enjoying its strongest growth since January this year. Like-for-like sales rose by 1.3 per cent in August compared with same time last year and a 0.3 per cent dip in July, according to the latest data from KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC). [...]
Indian summer hurts shop sales in September October 7, 2014 HIGH street sales growth came to a grinding halt last month for the first time since February after Britain’s Indian summer put shoppers off stocking up on winter clothing, according to new research out today. Accountancy firm BDO’s monthly high street sales tracker shows sales dipped by 2.9 per cent in September, ending the first [...]
Consumers win as UK inflation continues to fall – London Report October 12, 2014 Consumers are winning out as low petrol prices and the continuing supermarket price war drive inflation down. Data out tomorrow is expected to show consumer price inflation for September fell to a five-year low of 1.4 per cent – well below the Bank of England’s target rate of two per cent. However, weak earnings growth [...]
Retail sales are up, according to the ONS (but not everyone agrees) August 21, 2014 Retail sales rose 2.6 per cent year on year in July, according to the Office for National Statistics – in contrast to the British Retail Consortium figures that claimed retail sales had fallen 0.3 per cent in the same month. The ONS – whose figures are consistently at odds with those provided by the [...]
Here are six things that the £1.1bn forex fine could be spent on “for the wider public good” November 12, 2014 Good news! Thanks to the forex fine announced today the Treasury is getting a £1.1bn boost to its coffers (minus whatever the FCA's enforcement costs come to). And even better news! Chancellor George Osborne has said he will use the money “for the wider public good”. Last time around, the government department used [...]
Record deflation at the tills and the slide is expected to continue August 5, 2014 BRITISH shop prices are still sliding downwards, with the fastest drop on record recorded in July, the 15th consecutive month of retail deflation. Shop prices dropped by 1.9 per cent in the 12 months to July, according to figures released this morning by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen. The decline is the fastest that [...]
Worst quarter for retail since summer 2012 as drop in food sales gets sector reversing August 11, 2014 Retail sales growth went into reverse last month, according to dreary figures released this morning, with the first quarter of contraction in more than two years recorded. Like-for-like sales dropped by 0.2 per cent between May and July, compared to the same months a year ago, according to the latest data from KPMG and the [...]
Britain’s biggest companies call on Westminster for fundamental business rates reform September 16, 2014 Some of Britain's biggest businesses including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, General Motors and Tata Steel have called on the government to rip up the current business rate regime claiming the current system is “a critical problem for all of British business”. The controversial tax delivers around £25bn to the Treasury every year, but [...]
London retail drives decline in UK footfall July 21, 2014 Retailers recorded a decline in footfall for the third month running in June, despite the strength of the economic recovery, with London’s shops reporting the steepest decline. The overall 0.7 per cent drop in foot traffic in June, compared to the same month last year, added to smaller declines in April and May, according to [...]