Lofty sales on the high street
Relief as trading defies expectations
BY SIMON READ THERE was relief on the High Street yesterday after the latest official figures showed that sales grew last month, despite the ongoing pressure on household finances.
It fuelled hopes that Christmas will prove to be a winner for retailers.
Sales in November were up 1.6 per cent on the same time last year, despite rising inflation and stagnant wage growth, Office for National Statistics figures revealed.
Average store prices increased by 3.1 per cent compared with November last year.
Black Friday proved the catalyst for the unexpected sales boost. Shoppers snapping up cut-price electrical appliances was the main reason for the uptick in fortunes. Meanwhile, online sales increased by 10 per cent from last year and now account for 17 per cent of all retail sales in the UK.
Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC, said: “Given the continued resilience of consumer sentiment, we’re optimistic that Christmas shopping sales in December will hold up.” But she warned that if there’s another cold snap and more snow, shops will lose out.
Ian Geddes, head of retail at Deloitte, added: “The next 10 days of pre-Christmas sales will be crucial for retailers.” He predicted that trading is likely to peak on December 22, particularly for purchases of food and drink.
“Crucially, the record-breaking Cyber Monday is not included in the figures, and this will give a significant boost to sales figures,” he added. down 48.3 at GKN GlaxoSmithKline Halfords Hays HSBC Imperial Brands International Airlines Grp ITV Kingfisher Land Securities Legal & General Lloyds Marks & Spencer Morrison National Grid Next Old Mutual Pearson Prudential Reckitt Benckiser 7448.12 297.1 1290.5 345.4 176.4 756.5 3050.0 633.0 166.3 333.5 978.5 266.0 66.3 309.3 213.4 861.8 4345.0 201.6 738.0 1843.5 6700.0 -1.3 -23.5 +4.7 +0.2 -12.3 -17.5 -2.0 +2.2 +1.2 +30.5 -0.1 -1.1 -2.0 -1.1 -12.6 -59.0 0.0 -12.0 +7.0 -47.0 Oil = $62.82 RELX 1727.0 Rentokil Initial 308.7 Rio Tinto 3562.0 Rolls-Royce 823.0 Royal Mail 445.0 RSA 602.0 RBS 277.9 J Sainsbury 236.6 SSE 1309.0 Severn Trent 2064.0 Serco 97.7 Sports Direct 374.9 Shell 2429.5 Sky 990.0 Smith & Nephew 1288.0 Smiths WH 2188.0 Stagecoach 166.6 Standard Chartered 759.4 Standard Life Aberdeen..413.8 TalkTalk 136.1 Taylor Wimpey 201.4 -11.0 -2.1 +15.0 -14.5 0.0 +3.5 -3.0 -1.5 -4.0 -22.0 -3.7 -8.5 -6.5 -19.0 -12.0 -22.0 -2.9 -14.6 -13.7 +0.4 0.0 EMBATTLED Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley was forced to reveal pre-tax profits at his firm plunged 67.3 per cent to £45.8million in the 26 weeks to October 29.
The company are mired in a number of controversies with an £11million payout to Ashley’s brother John being turned down by a substantial majority of shareholders this week.
However, Ashley was upbeat about the figures.
He said that once one-off losses on acquisitions and foreign exchange movements are stripped out, the firm’s underlying pre-tax profits actually climbed 22.9 per cent to £88million.