Snow fears unjustified, broker Arden argues

Footfall that plunged along with the temperature and yesterday’s profits warning from Alexon have stoked City fears that retail’s traditional golden quarter will fail to meet hopes.

But Bubb said: “The recent very cold weather has been unhelpful, but we confidently predict that all the headlines about retailing ‘disaster’ will soon turn to retailing ‘bonanza’ once consumers get stuck into the key post-Christmas spending period – where there are easy comparatives with the snow disruption a year ago.

“The shift of spending may have slightly adverse gross margin implications, but on the whole we don’t think too much damage will turn out to have been done to P&L forecasts, with the possible exception of Christmas-dependent retailers such as HMV.”

Other than HMV, analysts fear Argos-owner Home Retail Group, Game, JJB Sports, Dixons and Comet may be most affected by the recent snow.