Released on: January 10, 2008, 12:49 am

Press Release Author: Gracy

Industry: Financial

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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