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Minister under fire for Hong Kong trade trip CITY A.M. REPORTERS
BRING ME SUNSHINE HIGH STREET RETAILERS BEMOAN SEEMINGLY ENDLESS GRIM WEATHER
LAURA MCGUIRE RETAILERS already bruised by the impact of the cost of living are now being held back by Britain’s unpredictable weather, as per the latest closely-watched update on the health of the high street. Retail sales rose just over five per cent last month compared to the same period last year, but with inflation running at record levels, that increase masks a fall in volumes in both food and non-food items. Weather depresses footfall and also delays the purchase of summer
wardrobes, a key period for retailers as Brits stock up for social occasions. “Retailers hope sales will improve over the warmer summer months, especially as consumer confidence stabilises and inflation begins to ease,” Helen Dickinson, chief of the British Retail Consortium said. “However, [retailers] continue to face huge cost pressures from a tight labour market, high energy prices, and other rising input costs, with many retailers reporting lower profits this year as a result,” she added. “Retail sales held steady in April with
five per cent growth on last year, but against a background of higher inflation year-on-year, masking how much is actually healthy growth for the sector,” Paul Martin, head of UK retail at KPMG, said. “Consumer demand has so far been fairly resilient to the twin drags of high inflation and high interest rates, but as government energy support comes to an end for many, savings start to dwindle and other household bills rise, it is likely that the next few months will continue to be challenging as the consumer tank
empties,” Martin added. “Much hinges on whether soaring food inflation can be brought under control enough to allow consumers to comfortably start spending again on nonessential items.” It comes as a consumer spending report published by Barclays has further highlighted the impact growing inflation has had on consumers’ purses. The public spent 7.6 per cent less in restaurants in April than they did in March, and sales in clothing declined 2.3 per cent for the third month in a row.
A LEADING Hong Kong rights activist, exiled in London, has described the first visit of a UK minister to the territory since 2018 as “unimaginable”. Dominic Johnson (pictured), a business minister, was in Hong Kong this weekend “as part of [his] mission to promote the UK as a leading destination for investment and trade”. “Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading international finance centres and we have shared interests from financial services to infrastructure and sustainability,” he tweeted. The visit was criticised by Nathan Law, a leading figure in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement and subsequent prodemocracy protests. Beijing responded with a crackdown on basic human rights. Johnson said: “I am clear we will not look the other way on Hong Kong or duck our historic responsibilities to its people [and will] call out the violation of their freedoms and hold China to their international obligations.” The UK’s investment relationship with Hong Kong was worth over £93bn last year, according to figures released by the government in collaboration with the visit.
Revolut’s battle with ‘extremely bureaucratic’ regulators goes up another notch CHRIS DORRELL REVOLUT boss Nik Storonsky spent the coronation weekend amping up his fight with the UK’s regulators, as the challenger bank continues to wait for its banking licence. Storonsky described the regulators as “extremely bureaucratic” and said
that should he consider floating the firm, it would be in New York rather than London. Business secretary Kemi Badenoch was said to be seeking a meeting with Storonsky amid fears that the bank could shift its HQ. Revolut applied for its full banking licence in January 2021, a
process which normally takes less than a year. Smaller rivals, such as Monzo and Starling, have already secured banking licences. The hunt for full authorisation has proved a speed bump to its growth in the past two years, but Storonsky argued the delay was “not really us”.
The comments will come as a blow to attempts from both regulators and the government to attract firms to the City of London. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt previously singled out Revolut as a “shining example” as he expressed his ambition to turn the UK into the next Silicon Valley.
Last week, the Financial Conduct Authority unveiled a series of measures to attract capital to the City, including scrapping ‘standard’ and ‘premium’ listing and moving towards a disclosure-based system. In a statement, Revolut said: “We’re a British company and London is our home.”
INSIDE BOE SET TO HIKE AGAIN P3 ELECTRIC SHIFT RUNNING OUT OF CHARGE P6 WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER BET AGAINST UK HOUSE PRICES P12 TRAVEL: ESCAPE TO INDONESIA P16