The billion pound plan to help Britain stay out of recession

As Britain heads out of its longest recession in modern history, the UK’s retailers are giving three cheers to the prospect of retail recovery. But, is the road ahead as smooth as it may seem? Gerald Grimes is the man fronting Hitachi Capital’s billion pound plan, which aims to facilitate consumer spending, and help Britain stay out of recession through cementing retail recovery.

The latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.1 per cent between October and December 2009, officially placing Britain out of recession. However, as consumer spending accounts for some 65 per cent of GDP, and with predicted growth for the year end period estimated at 0.4 per cent, UK retailers and the government alike are working to avoid a downward revision, pushing the country back into recession.

Hitachi Capital is ready to implement a strategy that will see the Japanese-backed organisation’s consumer finance division invest significant cash flow into the UK economy, across furniture, white goods, jewellery and other retail sectors, doing its part to drive retail sales growth in 2010. 

Speaking about the strategy, Gerald Grimes, divisional managing director of Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance, said: “I passionately lobbied not to increase the VAT on 31 December to help consumers and retailers make the most of the January sales, which would in turn give the economy some extra breathing space to aid recovery. However, recent data published by the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) has revealed that in-store credit agreements rose by four per cent in the run up to Christmas, with consumer finance agreements and in-store lending boosting GDP by £4.34 billion."

“Over the past 28 years we have worked through two previous recessions, supporting retail growth and providing vital funding to our partners including SCS, Beaverbrooks, DFS and many more. With our secure Japanese backing, Hitachi Capital is in a firm position to be able to offer a sizeable cash injection, of over a billion pounds , into the British economy through facilitating consumer purchases across retail sectors, helping to secure the UK’s official status as ‘out of the recession’ and pave the way to retail recovery."

“Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance provided more consumer credit in 2009 than any other year over its 28 year history.  We are really seeing the rebirth of POS retail finance with more than £500 million lent to customers at the point of purchase in 2009, the company saw a 40 per cent increase on 2008 in a bid to facilitate consumer spending.”

For more information contact: Daniel Hobson Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC t: 0113 380 1030 m: 07917 264079 e: daniel.hobson@hitachicapital.co.uk