Retail Sales Pick Back Up

Retail sales picked up in the UK in February after a woeful start to 2010 according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

A 2.1% rise will come as refreshing news to the retail market after a slump of 3% in January, caused mainly by the cold snap that hit the country throughout January.  The figures dropped 3% in that period.

The rise has been expected however, as there have been no similar unforeseen events in February that could have disrupted the numbers.

"Sales in January had been hurt very badly by the weather and the reintroduction of VAT," said Sarah Hewin, senior economist at Standard Chartered.

"We have to be cautious about saying that consumption is on an upward trend, however. Overall spending is still relatively weak."

A more negative note comes from the figures comparative with 12 months previous, sales rose by 3.5%, however a much more substantial rise had been expected by the majority of analysts.

In terms of value, sales for February were up 1.9% compared with January, or 5% up on a year ago.

Posted at 11:09AM Mar 27, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]