As Australia’s Wage Growth Slows, Retailers’ Revenue Slumps

SYDNEY/BANGALORE (Reuters) – Australia’s retailers, hit by tight-fisted consumers as wages grow at their slowest since at least the late 1990s, face a worsening downturn in revenue that bolsters the case for another interest rate cut next week by the central bank. Australia’s 16 retailers with market capitalization of at least $100 million are forecast to post an 8.5 percent drop in combined revenue to $181.1 billion for the fiscal year to June 2015, Thomson Reuters data from analyst estimates shows. That is the biggest drop in the six years for which comparable data is available. It coincides with a weakening trend in the wage price index, which grew at an annual pace of just 2.47 percent in October-December, its slowest since the series began in 1997. The Australian economy is struggling to regain momentum as a commodities price rout batters the mining sector. The central bank, concerned about faltering growth, cut interest rates to a record low this month and the debt market implies a roughly 50-50 chance of another cut at its policy meeting next Tuesday. Woolworths Ltd, Australia’s biggest supermarket chain operator, offered more reason to act when it warned on Friday that full-year earnings would be at the lower

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More...



from WWD » Starter to Offer NCAA Apparel Collection http://ift.tt/1FOfGJG

via IFTTT