U.K. Retail Sales Annual Growth Slowed in November, BRC Says

By Jennifer Ryan

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. retail sales increased at a slower annual pace in November as Britons curbed spending on food, the British Retail Consortium said.

Sales at stores open at least 12 months rose 1.8 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 3.8 percent gain in October, the London-based BRC said in an e-mailed statement today. Food sales rose 2.1 percent in the three months through November, the smallest gain this year.

“We would have expected much stronger growth,” Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said in the statement. “Uncertainty over jobs and future tax increases and government spending cuts is making customers more cautious.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling will present tax and spending plans to Parliament tomorrow as he tries to curb Britain’s deficit while supporting the economy. The Bank of England may hold its bond-purchase plan at 200 billion pounds ($328 billion) this week as policy makers assess if the recession has ended.

Sales of non-food items rose 3.3 percent in the three months through November, the biggest gain this year, the BRC said. The report measures changes in the actual value of retail sales and doesn’t adjust for price changes.

“Once the fact that food sales growth slowed further is factored in, largely reflecting lower food price inflation, it represents a solid start to Christmas trading,” Helen Dickinson, head of retail at KPMG, which conducts the retail survey with the BRC, said in the statement.

John Lewis Partnership Plc, owner of the namesake department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, said this week that sales rose 13.8 percent in the week ending Dec. 5, fueled by demand for electronic games and other toys.

“This is the earliest time in the Christmas season that a figure in excess of 100 million pounds has been reached,” the company said in a statement.

Retailers make the bulk of their annual profits in the holiday season. The number of shoppers entering stores dropped 4.8 percent from a year earlier at the Dec. 5-6 weekend, FootFall data from Experian Plc showed yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Ryan in London at Jryan13@bloomberg.net