Search News

Results: 1-10 of 1048


Start again

22 Mar 2024

Rob Brown, co-director of Dalby Forest Cycle Hub, a not-for-profit hire scheme has been nominated for the Tourism Superstar 2024 award, run by VisitEngland.

21 Mar 2024

ACS (The Association of Convenience Stores) and the Federation of Independent Retailers (The Fed) have both welcomed a new report published by the Association of Police and Crime...

21 Mar 2024

As reported by Healthstores UK, new data contained in the 2024 Soil Association Organic Market report shows that independent retailers delivered an impressive 10% growth in 2023, with...

21 Mar 2024

An independent bottle shop and bar in Cheltenham has been named as the UK's Independent Beer and Wine Retailer of the Year 2024 at the Drinks Retailing Awards. 

21 Mar 2024

A number of organisations, including Bira (the British Independent Retailers’ Association), other trade associations, BIDs and unions have met with officials from the Welsh Government to...

21 Mar 2024

The British Independent Retailers’ Association (Bira) has reacted to data released by PwC and the Local Data Company exploring the state of the UK retail landscape.

8 Mar 2024

Daniel Blackham, editor of industry magazine BikeBiz, has been writing about his experience of completing the Cytech technical one qualification at training provider Spokes People in Milton...

6 Mar 2024

Cytech partner Activate Cycle Academy, the largest and most recognised training provider of bike maintenance and technical training courses to the UK’s cycle industry, recently welcomed a...

6 Mar 2024

The Greeting Card Association has reacted to a BBC Panorama programme lifting the lid on Royal Mail management prioritising parcel delivery over letters, which it says are in contradiction of...

4 Mar 2024

Pop star Kate Bush has been announced as an ambassador for this year's Record Store Day, on 20 April.

Back to news menu

'Optimism is in the air' according to BRC Economic Briefing Report

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

'Optimism is in the air', according to the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) Economic Briefing Report reported by IRC member BIRA.

The latest UK economic data has been significantly better than expected. GDP fell by 2.9% in January compared to December, beating expectations of a drop of 4.9%. OBR forecast in March that the UK economy would regain its pre-pandemic size in the Q3 2022, six months earlier than it forecast in November.

Key insights from the new research reveals the following:

  • The latest UK economic data has been significantly better than expected. GDP fell by 2.9% in January compared to December, beating expectations of a drop of 4.9%. OBR forecast in March that the UK economy would regain its pre-pandemic size in the Q3 2022, six months earlier than it forecast in November.
  • Unemployment, unexpectedly, fell to 5% in January and the number of UK furloughs dropped by 5% in February. It looks like the economy has learnt to cope with health restrictions and can operate at higher capacity.
  • BRC-KPMG sales rose in February by 1.0%, although Non-Food sales remained in negative territory (-5.5% over the three months to February).
  • But the better-than-expected performance of the UK economy was overshadowed by January trade figures, with EU food exports down 75.5% on the year and EU food imports down 24.8%.
  • However, there is a strong optimism for a robust rebound from households and businesses alike.

 

Back to news menu

Useful links

If you have any other queries please contact us.