Insolvency firm fears a bleak Christmas on the high street
Begbies Traynor, one of the U.K.'s best-known insolvency companies, has today issued a very downbeat and worrying statement with regards to the UK retail sector as we approach the Christmas period. Despite assumptions that the UK economy is on the up and up there are fears that consumer spending has yet to respond to any improvement in the economy and the threat of job losses is still very much at the forefront of many people's minds. So what does this mean?
While only a few weeks ago there were indications that Christmas may not be as bad as many people had expected on the UK high street, last week we saw a statement from Marks & Spencer suggesting that a real recovery would not occur until 2011. Slowly but surely the consensus forecast for the UK retail sector has taken a significant downturn over the last couple of weeks and there are now real fears that some companies could struggle after Christmas and indeed some may well not make it up to Christmas.
When you consider that suppliers of goods to UK shops will also be under pressure we may see many balance sheets under pressure and cash flow stretched to say the least.
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