Andy Bond warns of long road to recovery

Bond said the last few weeks had seen good business for retailers, brought on by a rise in disposable incomes as a result of lower mortgage rates combined with a hot June.

But he warned that fears over unemployment, coupled with continued wage-growth stagnation and predicted mortgage rate hikes would see people saving more and spending less.

He told Reuters: “I think it’s going to be a long, long slow recovery. If this year is going to end up being a bit more benign than people expected, there’s every reason to believe next year will be hard.”

Hope that the `green shoots of recovery` are in sight have been fuelled by improved trading updates from big-name stores such as DIY specialist Kingfisher, fashion chain Next and supermarket Morrison.

But Bond predicted a harsher trading environment for supermarket groups in the coming months due to a predicted drop in food price inflation, though he believes this is more a return to normal conditions rather a major hurdle for the sector.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Financial Times, Bond - regarded as a frontrunner for the chief executive role at Marks & Spencer when Sir Stuart Rose steps back to become non-executive chairman - said he has not been contacted about it.

He said: “If you put yourself in Marks & Spencer’s shoes for a moment, there is only a very short list of people who would ever be qualified to do that job.” He added: “I would imagine I would be qualified to do the job.”

He refused to rule himself out of the race for the Marks & Spencer role but said: “I am very happy doing what I am doing. Whilst on one hand I have been at Asda fifteen and a half years now, I’m as energetic about doing it as I ever was.”