Retail news round-up: BHS administrator's high fees; UK consumer spending shows slow growth; and Irish retail sales surge.

BHS administrator’s fee keeps rising

BHS’ administrators Duff & Phelps are charging an extra £301,864.50 in fees, taking its total remuneration to more than £3.6m, The Times reported.

The extra fees have been incurred for dealing with freehold and leasehold property and tax matters along with additional financial review and investigation costs.

The administrator has been paid £242,730 of this additional amount.

UK household spending grows at slowest rate

UK household spending grew 0.2% in the first quarter of 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), The Telegraph reported.

This growth is down from an initial 0.3% estimate and further down from 0.7% in the final three months of 2016, the slowest growth since end of 2014.

The ONS said: “This [slow growth] was partly due to rising prices.”

Irish retail sales increase 3.2%

The volume of retail sales rose 3.2% year-on-year in Ireland, according to data by commercial property agent CBRE, The Irish Independent reported.

The sales surged owing to online consumer spending. 

It was reported that online spending increased 18%, while 'face-to-face' spending decreased 2.5%.