UK fashion retailers' sales slump in September heat - BDO survey

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 7 (Reuters) - Britain's fashion retailers endured a slump in sales in September as unseasonably warm weather deterred sales of autumn and winter collections, industry data showed on Friday.

UK high street fashion sales fell 5.9 percent year-on-year in September, according to BDO, the accountancy and business advisory firm.

It said every week in September saw negative year-on-year sales for fashion.

BDO said high street sales across all sectors fell 2.8 percent.

September 2016 tied with September 1946 as the second hottest September since 1910, according to Britain's Met Office.

Several store groups including women's clothing retailer Bonmarche and homewares retailer Dunelm have already blamed the UK's hot September for weak sales.

The data and company updates could have implications for the bigger players in Britain's clothing market, which have already endured unhelpful summer weather patterns, with June a washout.

Concerns have centred on Marks & Spencer (Frankfurt: 534418 - news) and Debenhams (Frankfurt: D2T.F - news) .

M&S is not due to publish half-year results until Nov. 8, while Debenhams is scheduled to report full-year results on Oct. 27. Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in M&S are down 27 percent so far this year, while Debenhams is down 24 percent.

The British Retail Consortium will publish its data for September spending on Oct. 11 and official data will be published on Oct. 20. (Reporting by James Davey; editing by Susan Thomas)