UK July retail sales growth hits 3-month high

LONDON  (Reuters) :Retail sales grew at their fastest annual pace since April last month, helped by greater discounting, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday.

Total retail sales excluding automotive fuel rose by an annual 2.5 percent in June in value terms, up from 1.5 percent annual growth in June and the biggest increase in three months. For the three months to July as a whole, retail sales values were just 1.3 percent higher than a year earlier.

The BRC does not provide estimates of growth in retail sales volumes -- which feed into GDP estimates -- but the high current rate of inflation means that these are likely to be negative.

“This is a modest improvement on recent months but overall conditions remain very difficult for retailers,” said BRC director general Stephen Robertson. “When you take into consideration inflation and January’s increase in VAT, 2.5 percent growth effectively means people are buying fewer goods.”

Like-for-like retail sales, a measure that excludes new floorspace and closing stores, and is favoured by some equity analysts, showed a 0.6 percent annual rise, reversing a similar fall the previous month. This was also the biggest rise since April.

Food led retail sales growth, and clothing and footwear benefited from a greater level of seasonal discounting, but consumer caution limited purchases of more expensive items, the BRC said.

The latest financial market turbulence risked depressing consumer sentiment, the BRC added.