U.K. Retail Sales Plunged Most on Record in March, BRC Says

U.K. retail sales dropped by a record in March as accelerating inflation squeezed households’ finances and concerns about employment prompted consumers to cut back, the British Retail Consortium said.

Sales at stores measured by value fell 1.9 percent from a year earlier, partly due to the timing of Easter in 2010, the London-based BRC said in a report today. That’s the biggest drop since the series began in 1995 and compares with a 1.1 percent gain in February. On a like-for-like basis, which excludes new store openings, sales fell 3.5 percent, the most since 2005.