Upmarket fashion group Harvey Nichols showed its flagship London store was still being hit by low tourist numbers.

Currently the subject of a £137.5 million bid to take the group private, it said sales at its store in Knightsbridge "continue to be disappointing".

Like-for-like sales for the first six months of its financial year, to September 28, slid 2.9 per cent on the same period last year.

A spokesman said: "Tourist levels still haven't risen to what they were prior to September 11 and that has had an adverse effect on sales."