It feels like like 1995, he tells shareholders.
Home Retail Group chief executive Terry Duddy is calling on the Bank of England's monetary policy commitee to cut interest rates.

He said: "I would like interest rates to come down. The bigger and quicker the better."

The comment follows an interim statement yesterday in which Mr Duddy said sales figures for the 18 weeks to January 5 for Argos and Homebase indicated a 'more evident' slowdown in retail sales.

Mr Duddy's call echoes that of the British Retail Consortium's director general Kevin Hawkins, who called for a 0.5% rate cut before the monetary policy committee meet on February 6 and 7.

The British Chambers of Commerce has also repeated its calls for the Bank of England to cut interest rates after it recently described export data as 'disturbingly weak'.