British retail sales dropped for the fifth month in a row in September, adding to signs of weakness in the economic recovery amid a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.
The volume of goods sold in stores and online fell 0.2 per cent last month, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday, in the longest period of consecutive monthly declines on record, with the decline coming despite panic buying for petrol during the fuel shortage.
“Household goods were the main driver of this month’s decline with a fall of nearly 10 per cent, according to ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan, while food sales rose after falling in August.
“Despite the lifting of restrictions, in-store retail sales remain subdued, with many consumers still opting to shop online," he said.
While retail sales are still 4.2 per cent higher than in February 2020, before Britain went into lockdown, they are now 1.3 per cent lower than a year ago as supply chain bottlenecks leave gaps on supermarket shelves.
Many petrol stations ran out of fuel in late September and early October after a shortage of lorry drivers affected tanker deliveries, with lines of cars snaking out of garage forecourts as people desperately tried to fill up.
Fuel sales in September exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time, the ONS said, rising 2.9 per cent in the month. While that boosted sales at some filling stations, it depressed it at others that did not have supplies.
Retail sales excluding fuel were down a bigger-than-expected 0.6 per cent on the month.
The overall drop was caused by a fall in sales volumes in non-food stores, with lighting and furniture businesses the hardest hit. While shoppers opted to avoid high streets, sales online continued to rise, accounting for 28.1 per cent of all spending - up from 27.9 per cent in August.
“Retailers will be concerned by the slump in sales, just as they begin their preparations for the all-important Christmas period,” said Helen Dickinson, chief executive officer of the British Retail Consortium. “Fuel shortages, wet weather, and low consumer confidence all contributed to lower consumer demand this month, with household goods, furniture and books all hit particularly hard.”
Clothing and department stores reported an increase in monthly sales volume of 4.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent.
While UK retail sales grew strongly in the first part of the year, particularly after lockdown restrictions eased for shops on April 12, they have dropped off since partly as consumers chose to socialise once Covid-19 curbs eased on dining out. With new coronavirus cases topping 50,000 a day on Thursday, there are fears restrictions could return.
There was a September surge in clothing sales, as shoppers back from staycations revamped their wardrobes ready for an autumn of socialising,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“More staff have hot footed it back to the office after an 18 month break, so it’s likely revamping work wardrobes was also a priority. In this strive for self-improvement, spending has moved away from home-improvement, with furniture and lighting sales in particular falling off dramatically.”
Meanwhile, consumer confidence dropped sharply in October, a separate survey from research company GfK showed.
“The sharpest concern is how consumers see the future economy,”’ said Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK.
“Against a backdrop of cheerless news — food and fuel shortages, surging inflation, squeezing household budgets, the likelihood of rate rises and climbing Covid rates — it’s not surprising that consumers are feeling down.”
Despite the gloomy retail sales, Britain's economy unexpectedly regained momentum in October, with the preliminary "flash" IHS Markit/CIPS flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index rising by the largest amount since May to hit 56.8 from September's 54.9, however cost pressures rose by the most in more than 25 years.
The PMI rise was driven by Britain's services firms as consumers and businesses picked up their spending and travel firms benefited from easing Covid-19 movement rules.
However, cost pressures remain with higher wages and worsening supply shortages resulting in the fastest increase in average costs since the combined composite index was launched in 1998. Separate PMIs for the services and manufacturing sectors showed prices charged by firms rose by the most since these series began in the 1990s.
"The UK economy picked up speed again in October, but the expansion is looking increasingly dependent on the service sector, which in turn looks prone to a slowdown amid the recent rise in COVID-19 cases," said IHS Markit's chief business economist, Chris Williamson.
Bank of England policymakers are concerned supply shortages and consumers splashing out after the end of lockdown are fanning inflationary pressure, with Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill expecting inflation to exceed 5 per cent by early next year.
Financial markets expect the central bank to lift interest rates next month, although Mr Pill said the decision was “finely balanced".
Stuart Cole, chief macroeconomist at brokerage Equiti Capital, said the another disappointing set of retail sales figures from the UK will do nothing to "assuage fears that the economic recovery is in danger of stalling".
It will also "provide a headache for the BoE" as to whether the "recovery is strong enough to withstand a tightening in monetary policy", he added.
"With Covid cases rising, speculation growing that the Government may be forced to introduce now lockdown measures over the winter months, tax rises in the pipeline and inflation rising, the prospects for a significant pick-up in consumption looks unlikely at the current juncture," he said.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Profile box
Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
More from Aya Iskandarani
Bundesliga fixtures
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Brief scores:
Juventus 3
Dybala 6', Bonucci 17', Ronaldo 63'
Frosinone 0
JERSEY INFO
Red Jersey
General Classification: worn daily, starting from Stage 2, by the leader of the General Classification by time.
Green Jersey
Points Classification: worn daily, starting from Stage 2, by the fastest sprinter, who has obtained the best positions in each stage and intermediate sprints.
White Jersey
Young Rider Classification: worn daily, starting from Stage 2, by the best young rider born after January 1, 1995 in the overall classification by time (U25).
Black Jersey
Intermediate Sprint Classification: worn daily, starting from Stage 2, by the rider who has gained the most Intermediate Sprint Points.
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
25-MAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Francis Uzoho, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, Daniel Akpeyi
Defenders: Olaoluwa Aina, Abdullahi Shehu, Chidozie Awaziem, William Ekong, Leon Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo, Jamilu Collins, Semi Ajayi
Midfielders: John Obi Mikel, Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, John Ogu
Forwards: Ahmed Musa, Victor Osimhen, Moses Simon, Henry Onyekuru, Odion Ighalo, Alexander Iwobi, Samuel Kalu, Paul Onuachu, Kelechi Iheanacho, Samuel Chukwueze
On Standby: Theophilus Afelokhai, Bryan Idowu, Ikouwem Utin, Mikel Agu, Junior Ajayi, Valentine Ozornwafor
Leaderboard
64 - Gavin Green (MAL), Graeme McDowell (NIR)
65 - Henrik Stenson (SWE), Sebastian Soderberg (SWE), Adri Arnaus (ESP), Victor Perez (FRA), Jhonattan Vegas (VEN)
66 - Phil Mickelson (USA), Tom Lewis (ENG), Andy Sullivan (ENG), Ross Fisher (ENG), Aaron Rai (ENG), Ryan Fox (NZL)
67 - Dustin Johnson (USA), Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (ESP), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Francesco Laporta (ITA), Joost Luiten (NED), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Marcus Kinhult (SWE)
68 - Alexander Bjork (SWE), Matthieu Pavon (FRA), Adrian Meronk (POL), David Howell (ENG), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (RSA), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR), Sean Crocker (USA), Scott Hend (AUS), Justin Harding (RSA), Jazz Janewattananond (THA), Shubhankar Sharma (IND), Renato Paratore (ITA)
The fake news generation
288,000 – the number of posts reported as hate speech that were deleted by Facebook globally each month in May and June this year
11% – the number of Americans who said they trusted the news they read on Snapchat as of June 2017, according to Statista. Over a quarter stated that they ‘rarely trusted’ the news they read on social media in general
31% - the number of young people in the US aged between 10 and 18 who said they had shared a news story online in the last six months that they later found out was wrong or inaccurate
63% - percentage of Arab nationals who said they get their news from social media every single day.
Match info
Liverpool 3
Hoedt (10' og), Matip (21'), Salah (45 3')
Southampton 0
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
Jawab Iteiqal
Director: Mohamed Sammy
Starring: Mohamed Ramadan, Ayad Nasaar, Mohamed Adel and Sabry Fawaz
2 stars
Scores
Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool
Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Burnley 1-0 Brighton
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace
Saturday fixtures:
Chelsea v Manchester City, 9.30pm (UAE)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.45pm (UAE)
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17
At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253
