Property taxes to rise in April December 13, 2010 HUGE rises in business tax are due in April thanks to the government’s “random” way of setting rates, a leading retail group said yesterday. Commercial property taxes are based on the previous September’s retail price index (RPI), the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. The method is prone to volatile jumps in RPI, unfairly affecting businesses, [...]
Retailers boost recovery hopes February 7, 2011 Spending on the UK’s high streets bounced back in January after December’s sales were hit by heavy snow, it will be revealed today. The news comes after the FTSE jumped 53.65 points yesterday – a rise of 0.89 per cent – breaking through the confidence-boosting 6,000 mark to close at 6,051.03. Retail sales were up [...]
Retailers expect a merrier Christmas December 12, 2010 RETAILERS are expecting a more prosperous Christmas than last year – fuelled by shoppers buying goods ahead of the looming VAT hike in January. Almost two thirds of traders said they expected sales to be at least the same or better than last year, according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Stores [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL THE FESTIVE PERIOD KICKSTART SALES AND HELP CONFIDENCE RETURN TO RETAIL? December 12, 2010 HOWARD ARCHER | IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT “Things are improving slightly but there is still a lot of caution. Wage rises have fallen behind inflation and there is still the impact of government cuts to be fully felt next year.” STEPHEN ROBERTSON | BRITISH RETAIL CONSORTIUM “It is reassuring to see a majority of retailers believe [...]
Retailers hit back over BBC claims December 22, 2010 THE British Retail Consortium (BRC) has branded a withering attack on supermarket expansion broadcast on the BBC’s Panorama last night as “misleading”. Programme makers indicate that the UK’s major grocers are growing more quickly than ever, suggesting that one of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons effectively gets planning permission for a new store “every working [...]
UK’s retailers struggle with price inflation January 11, 2011 SHOPS are battling the effects of rising inflation, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) announced today. Shop price inflation hit 2.1 per cent last month, the group said, up from two per cent in November. The rate will concern consumers, but is “well below the wider consumer price index” (CPI) as retailers absorb the effects of [...]
UK’s retailers struggle with price inflation January 11, 2011 SHOPS are battling the effects of rising inflation, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) announced today. Shop price inflation hit 2.1 per cent last month, the group said, up from two per cent in November. The rate will concern consumers, but is “well below the wider consumer price index” (CPI) as retailers absorb the effects of [...]
FTSE 100 bounce back led by banks January 11, 2011 The FTSE 100 lifted in early trading today as banking stocks led the way. The recovery came after a poor session yesterday with the euro zone debt crisis casting a shadow over European markets. Citigroup upgraded HSBC to “buy” from “hold”, fuelling more confidence in the banking sector. Barclays also climbed as the London Stock [...]
FTSE 100 bounce back led by banks January 11, 2011 The FTSE 100 lifted in early trading today as banking stocks led the way. The recovery came after a poor session yesterday with the euro zone debt crisis casting a shadow over European markets. Citigroup upgraded HSBC to “buy” from “hold”, fuelling more confidence in the banking sector. Barclays also climbed as the London Stock [...]
Winter freeze knocks retail sales growth January 10, 2011 HIGH street spending took a severe hit from last month’s snow, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) confirmed today. Like-for-like sales in December dropped by 0.3 per cent on the previous year, the group reported, although for the whole of 2010 these sales increased by 0.8 per cent. “The unusually early winter weather made a difficult [...]