Kevin Hawkins Quotations

We did not expect any change in interest rates today from the Bank of England, although clearly a further reduction in the run-up to Christmas would have been helpful to both retailers and industry in general.

No one should be fooled into believing that the slight improvement relative to July indicates a change in trend. Any growth came from heavy discounting, which is not sustainable - especially as retailers' margins are already being squeezed by rising labour, property and energy costs. The underlying position is still weak and unlikely to improve unless and until there are further cuts in interest rates.

I was in same situation last April at Clarks Hill. I was winning by 10 pounds on Saturday and had already won a boat. Then, instead of doing what the odds said to do, I went back and tried to catch another big fish and bombed out and lost the tournament. We tried very hard not to make the same mistake at Lake Murray.

While most larger retailers have a broad spectrum of suppliers and are not unduly exposed to China, other retailers will be forced to look at sourcing from other low cost countries,

We keep asking the bank where they think this growth is going to come from. With people increasingly worried about rising household bills, unless there is some stimulus from the bank itself, we are not going to see any substantial growth.

The question now is whether some consumers will continue to stay away from central London and whether tourists will be deterred by the threat of further disruption,

While the growth in November was against a weak comparison in November 2004, it is better than many had expected and the lift out of negative territory is encouraging in itself.

The probability is that, after adjusting for the timing of Easter, the underlying trend in like-for-like sales is, at best, flat.

Easter this year isn't in March, it's in April, so we always knew that March would be a minus figure. If you allow for the fact that is Easter is normally worth about 1 to 1 1/2 percentage points, then the underlying trend is flat and we expect that to continue.

These results underline yet again the continuing squeeze on consumer spending and, contrary to the Bank of England's expectations, there is no sign of an upturn.

These results confirm unequivocally that retail price deflation continues, with price deflation across the board showing a month-on-month decline for the third time this year.

Another slight improvement in like-for like sales is very welcome, especially considering the downward trend in the first half of this year.

As China remains the greatest hope for bringing unbeatable value to our high streets, we trust the EU will keep its word on defending the rights of consumers and not just a handful of uncompetitive European producers.

A very useful increase in customer footfall in Central London has helped to generate this exceptional rate of growth. This in turn reflects the ongoing recovery from the events of last July which retailers will be doing their best to sustain.

This is an impressive like-for-like figure and encouraging news for retailers in the capital, especially considering the severe and very worrying drop in sales seen in July through to October last year.

This is another example of an independent agency trimming its sails to the political climate.

After the pre-Christmas upturn, we are now back to the reality of a tough, discount-driven retail market. The message from every sector of our industry is the same. The squeeze on consumer spending continues unabated. The economy badly needs a cut in interest rates.