-BRC: UK Aug Like-for-Like sales -0.4% y/y; Total 1.6% y/y
LONDON, (MNI) – UK retail sales declined in August on a year ago,
with no evidence of an Olympic bounce and with anaemic non-food sales
growth.
The British Retail Consortium survey showed headline like-for-like
sales growth fell 0.4% in August on a year ago, although total sales
were up 1.6%. Non-food sales growth was just 0.2% like-for-like in the
three months through August, with food sales rising 0.8%.
The 0.4% yearly fall in like-for-like sales was the weakest outturn
since the 3.3% drop in April, with the latter distorted by the timing of
Easter, and the second weakest outturn since the -1.6% recorded last
November.
Like-for-like sales were up just 0.4% in the June-August period and
total sales up 2.5%.
The Olympics, if anything, appeared to deter people from non-food
spending.
“Hot weather and the Olympics did help sales of party food and
drink but that was more than offset by a really weak performance for
non-food goods,” Stephen Robertson, BRC Director General, said.
He added that people were absorbed by the Olympics and “had little
interest in shopping, especially for major items.”
The lack of an overall Olympic boost to retail sales will come as
no surprise to the Bank of England.
BOE Chief Economist Spencer Dale said the central bank does expect
a small positive effect from the Olympics on Q3 GDP growth, but not
because of enhanced retail activity.
“There may well be some extra spending from tourism, but … there
has also been travel disruptions, more people are going on holiday, so I
think those effects are small. But the contributions from both ticket
sales and TV rights may lead to a very small boost to GDP in Q3,” Dale
said at the August BOE Inflation Report press conference.
-London newsroom: +44 20 7862 7492; email: drobinson@marketnews.com
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