On the group’s own measure of like-for-like sales, which excludes those stores affected by the opening of new space, there was a 3.2 per cent decrease.. Unemployment rose last month as businesses cut back on new staff and wage growth slowed, according to the latest figures to paint a downbeat picture of the UK economy. There he was found to have breached internal compliance rules by acquiring shares in SBC clients and in companies that were being eyed for takeover by the bank’s corporate finance team.In the late 1990’s Mr Bonnier was embroiled in the Co-op bribery scandal. In the resulting court case it was alleged that he received a £175,000 fee for helping broker million-pound payments to two executives at the Co-op.

He denied any wrongdoing.More recently Mr Bonnier was fined £290,000 by the Financial Services Authority for market abuse The fine related to his share trading in Regus.. Nine out of 10 employees at J Sainsbury will share a £38m bonus pot despite a total collapse in profits at the supermarket chain. It reduced its number of out-of-stock items by 75 per cent, it said. Some 135,000 staff will each receive an average of £200.The group said yesterday it was on track to match its rivals’ sales growth by the second half of its financial year, which is in line with its target of growing sales by £2.5bn over the next three years.It reiterated that all its efforts would go towards improving product availability and lowering prices rather than shoring up profits, which slumped to £15m in the year to March against £610m the previous year.The group warned that its operating margin, which almost halved to 2 per cent from 3.7 per cent, would not improve until the latter stages of its next financial year at the earliest, as it plans to reinvest any cost savings in its customer offer.

The general environment was tough and we were up against our toughest comparative period.” He added the group had not altered its internal sales forecasts and was budgeting for the same drop in underlying sales.Despite the group’s trading woes, Mr Wolfson said it would press ahead with an ambitious space programme. “The Bank [of England] is definitely having the desired effect in slowing consumer spending,” he said.Analysts estimated that underlying sales at the group in April and May fell by about 8 per cent.Mr Wolfson said “I’m not as pessimistic as the 8 per cent fall would suggest. As one of Britain’s biggest – and most successful – retailers, Next is viewed as a bellwether for the sector.Although some commentators had hoped for a “post-election bounce” in retail spending, Mr Wolfson rubbished the idea, saying any improvement hinged on interest rates. Shares in the company tumbled 39p to 1,466p.Simon Wolfson, the chief executive, said: “It’s got worse.” He does not expect conditions on the high street to improve before November at the earliest.The deterioration at Next comes amid mounting fears that the slowdown in consumer spending is set to accelerate, tipping the wider economy into recession. The clothing giant Next stoked fears about consumer spending after admitting yesterday its sales had plunged much faster than expected.
The group said like-for-like sales in the past 15 weeks were 6.3 per cent below last year, twice as bad as the City had feared. It is objecting to Ofcom’s decision last summer to designate it as having “significant market power” over fees that mobile operators receive from rivals for carrying incoming calls on their networks.If Ofcom’s decision is upheld the regulator could force “3″ to lower its termination rates, cutting the price the operator can charge for calls..