“People talk about consumer confidence, but that is a misleading phrase. There are a number of factors that mean people just have less money. Mortgage rates are at a historic high for many people. The fuel price is another major contributory factor. We don't see any particular reason why any of that will change for at least another six months or so. We reckon we can grow market share, but that will be through increasing selling space.”
“I think it is a sad day for the company and we are going to miss him. But, typically of him, he has planned his own succession immaculately. We will have a dinner and a nice party for him.”
“We believe the competitive and economic environment will remain very challenging in the year ahead. Whilst we think we have the opportunity to make improvements to some of our ranges, we are still budgeting on the basis of negative like-for-like retail sales for the year.”
“We thought we ought to put that in because it's the truth but the (like-for-like) number even with those factors taken into account is still very disappointing.”
