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News
Woeful January retail figures
The UK has suffered the worst retail sales growth in 15 years, according to the British Retail Consortium.
While adverse weather brought a boost to sales of food and drink in the first week of the year, the sales value fell 0.7% on a like-for-like basis from January 2009.
However, even though the January growth has fallen back to the levels seen before December’s uplift, like-for-like sales for the food and drink category were positive, unlike home accessories, house textiles and furniture, all of which suffered a decline.
Director general of the British Retail Consortium, Stephen Robertson, said it was “an awful start to the year and in stark contrast to an upbeat December. It was a month of two halves with a focus on must-haves early on.”
Meanwhile Helen Dickinson, head of retail at KPMG, said: “The underlying trend is difficult to read but there is no doubt that the strong sales we saw in December 2009 are not indicative of the trend for the rest of this year.”
Jane Parkinson, 15.02.2010