Supermarket giants signal woe
Two bulwarks of the retail sector, Asda and Sainsbury, painted a bleak picture of the UK retail economy yesterday. Consumers are in recession, Asda’s chief financial officer told a conference. “Do I expect it to improve any time soon? No, I do not,” said Judith McKenna. Her views were echoed by Sainsbury finance director John Rogers. “There is a huge, huge amount of pressure on consumers, and has been certainly for the last six months and certainly will be for the next six months,” he said. “It is very difficult to see light at the end of the tunnel.”