Britain’s retailers are holding back from investing due to the uncertainty surrounding the strength of the economy, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
In its pre-Budget submission to chancellor George Osborne, the industry group called on the government to do more to boost growth, thereby encouraging nervous retailers to expand their own businesses and stimulate additional economic activity.
“Retail could drive growth and job creation across the UK if the trading conditions were right. But, over the last five years, retailers have been accumulating cash they are often too fearful to invest,” said BRC director-general Stephen Robertson. “The decisions the chancellor takes will have a big impact.”
Mr Robertson also urged Mr Osborne to make the UK market more competitive than those of other countries, so that retailers are enticed to invest here rather than abroad.
His remarks came after a survey from Oxford Economics commissioned by the BRC revealed that while the individual cash holdings of 21 FTSE-listed retailers rose by half from 2006 and 2011, investment as a proportion of turnover slumped by 27 per cent in real terms.
