LONDON: British shop sales lost pace slightly in the first half of January as mild weather hurt sales of winter clothing, and retailers expect their weakest performance since 2013 in the three months ahead, a survey showed on Thursday.
The sales balance of the Confederation of British Industry's distributive trades survey fell to +16 from +19 in December, below the average forecast of +18 in a Reuters poll.
A measure of expected sales for the three months ahead fell to +17, its lowest since September 2013, and stores scaled back orders with suppliers by the most since May 2013.
"Retailers have had a steady start to the year through the January sales period," the CBI's director of economics, Rain Newton-Smith, said.
"However with competition remaining fierce and persistent price deflation in the sector, it's not surprising the outlook for retailers in February looks subdued."
Retailers wanted finance minister George Osborne to ease the burden of taxes charged on businesses based on the value of their property which hit the sector heavily, Newton-Smith added.
Osborne is due to make his annual budget statement in March.
The cautious outlook picked up in the CBI survey came after official data published last week showed British consumers reined in their Christmas spending by the biggest amount in over six years.
The spending power of many households in Britain has improved over the past year thanks to a pick-up in earnings and a plunge in inflation to below zero.
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