Unlock the Editor’s Digest without spending a dime
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.
Development in UK retail gross sales and client spending picked up final month as heat climate boosted purchases of summer time clothes and meals for barbecues.
The worth of retail sales rose by an annual fee of 1 per cent in August, up from 0.5 per cent within the earlier month and above the three-month common of 0.4 per cent, stated the British Retail Consortium, a commerce physique, on Tuesday.
The month-to-month figures are monitored for early indications of client spending forward of official information, which shall be revealed on the finish of September.
Improved spending bodes effectively for the UK economy within the second half of the 12 months after output expanded quicker in Britain than in some other G7 nation within the first six months.
BRC chief govt Helen Dickinson stated gross sales progress had “picked up” in August, significantly for meals “as individuals got here collectively to host barbecue and picnic gatherings for household and pals”. There was additionally an uplift in spending on summer time clothes and well being and wonder merchandise “as individuals ready for journeys away and summer time social occasions”, she famous.
The commerce physique’s information, collected with consultancy KPMG, chimes with separate figures revealed on Tuesday by Barclays. They confirmed that client card spending returned to progress in August, rising at an annual fee of 1 per cent after two consecutive months of decline.
Spending on groceries elevated 1.9 per cent in August, the most important rise since March, in line with Barclays. The rise was pushed by strong progress at foods and drinks shops, resembling butchers and delicatessens, with Britons “having fun with barbecues and picnics outside within the sunshine”.
Barclays stated the general retail sector additionally benefited from an 8 per cent improve in spending at backyard centres, the most important uptick within the class to date this 12 months, as drier and warmer climate inspired customers to spend extra on sprucing up out of doors areas.
Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, stated: “The long-awaited British summer time has unlocked pent-up demand throughout quite a few retail classes, resembling backyard centres and butchers, as many Brits dusted off their barbecue for the primary time this 12 months.”
Nevertheless, each the BRC and Barclays figures stay under the official fee of CPI inflation, which in July ticked as much as 2.2 per cent from the Financial institution of England’s 2 per cent goal. Which means that customers continued to chop again on the amount of products they purchased final month, albeit by lower than in earlier months.
