UK retailers face a £1.1bn bill for switching to the euro ­ worse than costs incurred by individual first wave conversion countries ­ according to the British Retail Consortium. The BRC explained costs had been limited to 0.5% of retailers' annual sales in those nations due to extensive government and business planning. Its report aimed at helping retailers cut conversion costs, Implementing the Euro in Retail, contains case studies on how Eurozone retailers managed the changeover on January 1 2002. A BRC spokesman said: "Preparation for conversion at the moment is limited. People can only start planning once they know they're going into the euro, so retailers need do nothing at the moment." {{NEWS }}