RETAIL sales fell for the second month running in the year to June, but the worst of the spending slump may be over, the CBI said yesterday.

The business body’s Distributive Trades Survey revealed that more retailers said sales had fallen than risen, giving a balance of minus 17 per cent. However, its quarterly figures were the least negative for more than a year, at a balance of minus ten per cent, in a sign that conditions are stabilising.

June’s survey results are in line with those of May, and less severe than the falls seen since last July and March, according to the CBI.

EUROPEAN OPPORTUNITY: A free event will show businesses how to benefit from Government spending in the European union.

Organised by UK Trade and Industry, it is on July 7, at Durham County Cricket Club, Chester-le-Street, and aims to raise awareness of global spending packages that governments have announced, and assist UK companies to exploit these opportunities. Speakers include Steven Spalding, a UK Trade & Investment Business Specialist and there will be presentations from the Law Society on contract law for the EU. The event runs from 9.30am to 1pm, and further details are available on 0845-05-05-054.

TOP DESIGNER: Tom Adams, an apprentice designer with Scarboroughbased tube bending machine company Unison, has become the nation’s highest scoring finalist in the WorldSkills Engineering CADD Competition. Mr Adams, together with four other finalists, two of who are also from the North-East, now goes forward to the national final, in London later this month.

FUNDING HELP: York based accountants Garbutt & Elliott will show businesses how to unlock Government funding, next month. The workshop will take place on July 7, at Garbutt & Elliott’s offices in Monks Cross, York, starting at 5.30pm. Two out of three valid applications by businesses have successfully received funding under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, introduced in January by the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.

CIVIL DIRECTOR: Civil engineer Alison Longstaff, a partner at Newcastle consulting engineers Cundall, Johnston and Partners LLP, has been credited as a chartered director by the Institute of Directors. The 46-year-old became a chartered engineer in 1990, specialises in design and has worked for local government, privatised utilities and engineering.