High street figures bounce back

Sep 26 2012

There has been some welcome cheer for the high street as figures revealed a bounce back in sales after last month's Olympics disappointment.

The latest CBI survey, covering the first two weeks of September, showed 33% of retailers saw sales rise year-on-year against 27% reporting that sales declined - giving a balance of 6%.

The result marks a turnaround on the minus 3% result last month when London 2012 failed to deliver the feel-good factor retailers had hoped for.

Britain's shops expect the sales revival to continue into the autumn, with a balance of 15% expecting sales to grow year-on-year in October.

It is thought consumers are being given a spending boost from falling inflation, which has dropped from a peak of 5.2% in September last year to 2.5% last month.

But the CBI warned that while the figures were encouraging, the outlook for household spending was unclear.

Judith McKenna, chairwoman of the CBI distributive trades panel and Asda chief operating officer, said: "While the squeeze on family budgets may have eased in the short term thanks to the fall in inflation, ongoing economic fragility, reflecting uncertainty around the international outlook, could affect household spending later in the year."