British retail sales remain weak in July

British retail sales remained weak in July, an industry survey revealed today.

The Confederation of British Industry's monthly distributive trades survey showed 29 per cent of retailers reported sales volumes up on the year, but 47 per cent said they were down, giving a balance of -18 in July.

That was in line with retailers' own forecasts and came after a balance of -19 in June, the lowest since the survey began in July 1983.

The London bomb attacks early in July are believed to have had little effect on the figures.

The underlying sales balance in the three months to July was down to -15, the lowest in the survey's 22-year history.