UK Retail Sales Remain Weak In October – Survey
fxbom.com
10:58 AM
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.K. retail sales remained weak in October, and the mood among consumers is unlikely to lift until they sense there will be an improvement in jobs, costs, and incomes, a monthly survey by the British Retail Consortium showed Tuesday.
The trade association said like-for-like sales values–which exclude sales from stores that opened or closed during the year–were 0.6% weaker than in October last year. Total sales values–which include new stores–rose 1.5% on the year, down from a 2.5% increase in September.
However, those figures don’t account for inflation –which has soared above 5%– suggesting sales volumes are suffering. BRC’s year-to-date figures, which smooth out monthly fluctuations, also showed there was no growth in sales values in October, the BRC said.
Retail sales have been subdued for most of the year as consumers were squeezed by feeble wage growth, high inflation, tightening fiscal policy and turmoil in global financial markets.
“The year-to-date results show almost no growth in non-food sales. Allowing for the VAT [value-added tax] rise since last year, that suggests a substantial drop in sales volumes while the food figures indicate very little volume growth,” Stephen Robertson, the Director General of the BRC said in a statement.
“It’s clear customers are cutting back whatever they’re buying,” he said.
-By Nicholas Winning, Dow Jones Newswires, +44 207 842 9498 ; nick.winning@dowjones.com
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