Press Release Summary: In December 2007, retailers did manage to increase their sales but only by a small margin. The increase in like-for-like sales was the lowest since 2004, making it the worst Christmas for the retailers in the last three years.
Press Release Body: London (Loans Bazaar) 9 January, 2008: According to the British Retail Consortium, retailers in the UK had their worst Christmas since 2004. The figures from the British Retail Consortium reveal that like-for-like sales across the sector, excluding new store openings, increased by just 0.3% in December 2007 when compared to the figures a year earlier. However, the overall sales increased by 2.5%.
The British Retail Consortium called for interest rate cut, warning that if the base rate was not reduced, the like-for-like sales may move into negative territory as they did in the year 2005. The last rate cut by the Bank of England took place in early December when the Bank reduced the base rate from 5.75% to 5.5%.
Kevin Hawkins, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said that an additional half-point reduction to 5% was 'preferable' for households, retailers and manufacturers.
After the global credit crunch taking its toll on the UK finance industry, the personal loans, secured loans and mortgages across the UK have become difficult to come by. The consumers might well have been forced to curtail their spending in the festival season.
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