British retailers reported another drop in sales as record-high inflation kept consumers from spending on discretionary products and services.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said households are reining in spending, with many either downgrading to cheaper brands or slashing items from their grocery lists altogether.
The industry group’s measure of retail sales declined by 1.3 percent from a year earlier in the period through July 2 after a 1.5 percent drop the month before.
Photo: Bloomberg
“Sales volumes are falling to a rate not seen since the depths of the [COVID-19] pandemic,” BRC chief executive officer Helen Dickinson said.
Barclaycard, which manages about one-third of the credit and debit card purchases in the UK, said spending in supermarkets fell 0.8 percent from a year prior, while outlays on essentials increased 4.4 percent.
In a separate report, it also found that spending on non-essentials slowed sharply.
“The outlook continues to be challenging, although good weather might provide a welcome boost in July,” said Susan Barratt, chief executive officer of IDG, which contributed to the survey. “We’re forecasting that food inflation will reach 15 percent this summer.”
Almost half of consumers have begun to reduce their energy and water consumption to cope with rising bills. Utility costs have soared 40 percent from a year earlier, Barclaycard said.
That is reducing the money consumers have for other items.
“As the cost of living crisis continues to deepen, retailers face walking a fine line between protecting margins and further denting consumer confidence,” KPMH UK head of retail Paul Martin said.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
RSS