World Cup brings additional $2.5 bn for German retailers

BERLIN: Retailers in Germany pocketed an additional two billion euros ($2.5 billion) in revenues linked to the World Cup soccer championships, which is likely to boost business for the whole of 2006, the HDE industry federation estimated on Thursday.

As anticipated, the mega sporting event had the cash tills ringing up extra sales in the Eurozone's biggest economy, especially in sectors such as consumer electronics and drinks.

There were an extra 1.5 billion euros in revues in June and a further 500 million euros in July, HDE chief Hermann Franzen told a news conference.

The World Cup was held between June 9 and July 9.

Otherwise, business during the rest of the year had been "anything but optimal", Franzen said, noting the discrepancy between buoyant consumer sentiment surveys and households' reticence to open their purses.

For 2006 as whole, retail sales were expected to rise by a modest 0.5-1.0 percent, but solely thanks to the World Cup and big-ticket purchases ahead of   the planned rise in value-added tasx (VAT) at the beginning of 2007, HDE said.