High Street cheers after World Cup fillip
WARM weather and the World Cup encouraged Britons back to the high street last month, boosting retail sales volumes by 0.7 per cent in June, official data showed yesterday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revised up the May increase to 0.8 per cent. Consequently, retail sales volumes rose 1.7 per cent in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year.
Analysts said this raised hopes that second quarter GDP growth – to be published this
morning – would be a positive surprise.
Every retail sector experienced growth of at least 0.6 per cent during the month to June
except for automotive fuel sales, which fell 2.2 per cent in June from May. The highest monthly growth occurred in household goods stores, with sales increasing by 1.6 per cent – partly fuelled by a surge in sales of televisions during the World Cup.
Despite flagging consumer confidence following the austerity Budget, Britons are still spending. But economists warned that the trend lacks momentum. Over the first half of 2010, retail sales excluding petrol were down 0.4 per cent on the previous half.
“The softening in retail spending has coincided with a stalling in consumer confidence, and is likely to reflect increased pessimism on the part of households about the economic outlook, probably linked to concerns about government budget cuts,” said Simon Hayes at Barclays Capital.