Agenda: The Budget, Next and consumer confidence

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Retail Week looks ahead to the next seven days with the Budget, a Next trading statement and the latest consumer confidence data all on the agenda.

The Budget

All eyes will be on Philip Hammond on Monday when he opens his Budget Red Book.

Much of what will be detailed in the Budget has already been announced by the Government, but the ruling Tory party is coming under increasing pressure to provide some respite on business rates.

The property tax is proving an onerous charge on bricks-and-mortar operators, with the likes of Tesco boss Dave Lewis calling for an online sales tax to be introduced in a bid to level the multichannel playing field.

The fashion giant updates on trading on Wednesday. When the retailer issued half-year results last month it increased full-year profit guidance by £10m to £727m after a better than expected performance.

However, chief executive Lord Wolfson was wary of reading too much into the results. He said: “The UK retail market remains volatile, subject to powerful structural and cyclical changes. Many of these headwinds have not abated.”

He said that the “over-performance” in the first half was “flattered by the unusually warm summer and we remain cautious in our outlook for the rest of the year”.