According to the latest Confederation of British Industry (CBI) distributive trades survey, retailers are optimistic about the Christmas period but have expressed their concerns for 2011. Many retailers share the same fear for next year as Government spending cuts kick in and the VAT rise takes effect on 1 January. The CBI’s survey established that [...]
According to the latest Markit Economics survey, the UK looks set to be in for a bleak Christmas as households are squeezed amid higher consumer prices. The survey revealed that consumers’ enthusiasm for buying “big-ticket” items has slumped to its lowest level since February 2009. The research comes despite optimism that consumers would opt to [...]
The Commerce Department has revealed US retail sales grew by a better than expected 1.2% last month – this followed an increase of 0.7% in September. The rise, which was the fourth consecutive monthly gain, was fuelled by an increase in car sales. Retail sales figures are closely watched because consumer spending accounts for approximately [...]
Presenting today’s Quarterly Inflation Report, the Bank of England’s Governor, Mervyn King, said inflation will continue to stay high, while the economy will remain weak. The report stated that inflation will remain stubbornly high, as a result of the rising price of raw materials, higher energy bills and the decision to hike VAT to 20% [...]
BDO, the accountancy firm, has today provided an optimistic report about the prospects for the UK High Street. Spending cuts and tax hikes has led many experts to suggest that consumers will rein in their spending, having a severe impact on retailers. However, BDO suggests that sales will grow by 3% over Christmas as shoppers [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today reported a decline in UK retail sales for the month of September – the second monthly fall. According to the ONS, retail sales dipped 0.2% last month and followed a downwardly revised fall of 0.7% in August. The fall was attributed to weak demand for clothing and [...]
Chancellor George Osborne has today announced that UK banks will have until next month to sign up to a code of practice, in a bid to get them to pay more tax. Speaking to BBC television today, Mr Osborne said: “We are going to be looking at the code of practice that the banks were [...]
Employers’ group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has today said it supports the coalition Government’s overhaul of the benefits system. It is also suggesting the Government consider ending final salary pensions for public sector workers. The coalition Government has introduced tough austerity measures and has said they are necessary to slash the budget deficit. [...]
The Commerce Department today announced the US trade deficit narrowed in July by 14% to $42.8 billion (£27.8 billion) from $49.90 billion the previous month. The figure is much improved from June’s figure when the trade gap reached a 20-month high. According to the Commerce Department, the narrowing in the trade deficit was primarily due [...]
IMRG, an industry body for global e-retailing, has reported online sales soared in July – at the quickest pace in three years. According to the industry body, the rain discouraged shoppers from venturing onto the high street and opting to purchase from the comfort of their own home. According to IMRG, £5 billion was spent [...]
Spending on credit and debit cards increased 9.2% in March compared to March 2009, new figures from Barclaycard show. This continues a trend highlighted in February, when spending on plastic increased 7.1% on year. Compared to February, credit and debit card spending increased 18% in March for high street and online purchases. This is a [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, today announced that sales grew 30% in the week to 3 April, compared with the same period a year ago. The renowned employee-owned department store said poor weather and the Easter holiday encouraged consumers to spend and provides evidence that the economic [...]
Fashion chain Next has today announced its pre-tax profits for the 2009 year rose 18% to £505.3 million. The retailer said annual revenues rose to £3,406 million, from £3,271.5 million the previous year. Chairman of the fashion chain, John Barton, described 2009 as “an extraordinary year” and added it had seen a “marked improvement” in [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, today announced sales grew 14.8% to £50.4 million in the week to 27 February compared with the same period a year ago. The figures at the renowned employee-owned department store suggest consumer spending recovered in February since it was the seventh consecutive [...]
Fears over US consumer spending were raised today after retailing giant Wal-Mart reported weaker than expected sales. The company, which is the world’s largest retailer, reported a 22% rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter profit, but sales at stores open at least 12 months disappointed the market. Quarterly sales fell to $113.65 billion – slightly below [...]
Leading economic think tank, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), is warning the Government that if it plans to halve the budget deficit over the next four years, much tighter spending controls are required. In his latest Pre-Budget Report, Chancellor Alistair Darling pledged to significantly reduce the UK’s soaring deficit over the [...]
A report by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and accountants BDO said advertisers continued to reduce their budgets in the fourth quarter of 2009, but the rate of decline was at its slowest in almost two years. As they economy recovers, the report suggests that budgets will rise in 2010 and comes after [...]
There were hopes that the personal computer market is staging a recovery after chipmaker Intel said net income in the three months to 26 December was £1.4 billion – surging ahead of the £143 million reported a year earlier. Furthermore, the company, which is based in Santa Clara, California, exceeded analysts’ expectations after sales soared [...]
The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, said like-for-like sales were up 12.7% in the five weeks to 2 January 2010 compared with a year ago. The figures will boost hopes that the economy is making a recovery as consumers begin to spend again. Furthermore, the renowned employee-owned department [...]
International ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), has cut Greece’s credit rating by one notch, to BBB+ from A-minus. The downgrade came just a few hours after the Greek government unveiled measures including a 10% cut in public spending. Last week, credit rating agency, Fitch, also cut Greece’s sovereign debt rating to a decade-low to [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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