British retail sales rose at their weakest pace in more than a year in December and retailers were more pessimistic about the outlook than at any time since April 2006, a survey showed today.
The Confederation of British Industry said its distributive trades survey's reported sales balance eased to +8 this month from +13 in November, the weakest since November 2006. Analysts had forecast a reading of +10.
The expectations balance fell to -5 from +11, the first negative reading since April 2006.
The CBI said there were weaker sales across most sectors except groceries.
"Sales growth in the first part of December seems relatively more disappointing when compared with last year's pre-Christmas period and the first half of 2007," said John Longworth, chairman of the CBI's DTS panel.