The Sky News Business Podcast · Sky News

Retail sales, energy price cap and Marriott

·22 min·1 clip

Ofgem cuts the household energy price cap 7% from July, but Cornwall Insight sees bills rising again to £1,762 in October.

1. The Sky News Business Podcast episode titled 'Retail sales, energy price cap and Marriott' links April retail sales, the Ofgem energy price cap, and a Marriott International interview. 2. Ian King hosts the programme from the Sky News City studio and speaks with Bill Dinning, Chief Investment Officer at Waverton Investment Management, and Leni Oberg, Chief Financial Officer of Marriott International. 3. The episode asks what weak UK consumer data, lower energy bills, and Marriott's investment plans say about demand, costs, and the outlook for business. 4. The Office for National Statistics said retail sales volumes in April were down 2.3% from March. 5. The ONS also revised March lower to minus 0.2% from February, instead of the previously reported unchanged reading. 6. Non-food stores sales volumes fell 4.1%, the joint biggest fall since January 2021, with clothing retailers, sports equipment stores, games and toy stores, and furniture stores all weakening. 7. Ian King and Bill Dinning both link the weak print to exceptionally wet weather and poor consumer confidence. 8. Ofgem announced a 7% reduction in the household energy price cap from the beginning of July. 9. The typical annual bill under the cap will be £1,568, compared with £1,690 now, and the average annual bill will be £506 cheaper than a year earlier. 10. Cornwall Insight predicts that prices will rise again into winter as wholesale gas costs increase, with the typical bill rising to £1,762 from October. 11. Marriott International said it had a better start to 2024 than expected and plans to raise investment this year to as much as $1.2 billion. 12. Much of Marriott's spending will go into technology, including a broader app experience, easier communication with guests, and bookings for spas, tennis courts, and restaurants. 13. Leni Oberg said Marriott's AI incubator is being used both to automate internal finance work and to improve customer-facing tools. 14. She said Marriott needs careful guardrails around AI because a bad search result would not be good for the customer. 15. Oberg said international demand, especially Asia-Pacific outside China and Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has been strong in the year so far. 16. She said China had a strong quarter at 6% year on year, although forward booking trends were less robust than expected. 17. Bill Dinning said consumer confidence is weak and that the monthly retail number matters less than the broader message about sluggish spending. 18. He said investors are watching whether the election produces policy that unsettles business, and he highlighted sterling's stability against the euro as a useful signal. 19. The programme sounds like a live news round-up with a studio anchor, a market update, and two interview segments with clear business jargon. 20. Anyone tracking UK consumer demand, hotel investment, or energy bills would find it useful, while listeners wanting light entertainment may skip it.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Sky News Business Podcast