LONDON—U.K. retailers are warning of little or no industry growth in 2010, sounding cautious notes in the wake of a better-than expected Christmas sales, and shifting strategies to squeeze out sales gains. In their post holiday sales updates, chief executives have repeatedly cautioned that the likelihood of higher taxes and unemployment will erode consumer confidence this year. "Due to the uncertain economic outlook, we expect trading for the next financial year to remain challenging," Home Retail Group Chief Executive Terry Duddy said Thursday in a caveat to an otherwise strong Christmas review. Mr. Duddy thinks sales growth across the industry will be hard to come by, a view echoed by Stephen Robertson, the British Retail Consortium's director general. Earlier this week he said while its members don't expect a decline in sales this year compared to last, there is little optimism about the level of growth, with some predicting flat sales. The looming pessimism has wiped out any residual cheer the market may have had for U.[Read more...]