UK March retail sales up 0.3 pct on month, 4.8 pct on year

UK March retail sales up 0.3 pct on month, 4.8 pct on year

	Published : Fri, 20 Apr 2007 09:50 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (Thomson) - Retail sales in the UK continued to rise in March but at a slower pace than in February, official figures showed today.

The Office for National Statistics said retail sales on a seasonally adjusted basis rose by 0.3 pct between March and February, slower than February's 1.6 pct monthly pace, which was revised up from 1.4 pct previously.

February's revised growth rate represents the fastest monthly gain since January 2005.

The March figure is just below analysts' expectations for a 0.4 pct rise and reflects gains in all sectors of retailing except for non-store retailing.

A more detailed look at the March figures shows the largest increases occurred among 'other' non-food and clothing retailers, where March sales increased by 1.0 pct and 0.9 pct respectively.

The drag came from non-store retailing, which saw sales fall by 3.8 pct on month.

The implied deflator for March showed prices rising 0.4 pct compared with March last year, suggesting retailers have successfully been raising their prices in order to rebuild margins.

This is the highest since September last year, when the deflator was a positive 0.6 pct, and also reflects the high inflation data released earlier this week, ONS officials said.

On a year-on-year basis, retail sales in March grew by 4.8 pct, below February's 5.1 pct, which was again revised up from the 4.9 pct announced previously.

The yearly rate was slightly above market expectations for 4.6 pct and the weakest showing since the 3.5 pct rate seen in January this year.

Meanwhile, the statistics office also said retail sales were up 0.4 pct in the three months to March from the previous three-month period, below the upwardly revised 1.2 pct seen in February.

Based on non-seasonally adjusted data, the average weekly value of retail sales in March was 4.76 bln stg, 5.8 pct than March last year and up 3.7 pct from February.

carlo.piovano@thomson.com

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