British retail sales unexpectedly rose in February, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday, defying most forecasts from analysts who had predicted a fall against a backdrop of weak overall growth in the economy.
Sales volumes increased by a monthly 1.0%, driven by non-food sales although supermarkets saw a drop after a surge in business in January, the Office for National Statistics said.
A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a monthly fall of 0.4% in sales volumes. The ONS revised January’s month-on-month increase to 1.4% from an initial 1.7%.
“It was a positive month for household goods stores with their largest rise since April 2021, driven by hardware store sales,” ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said, adding clothing sales also picked up due to widespread discounting.
Retail sales volumes for the three months to February rose by 0.3%, the first increase by that measure since the three months to November.
Retail sales were 2.2% higher than a year earlier, compared with the median poll forecast for 0.5% annual growth.
This week, clothing retailer Next raised its profit outlook after better-than-expected trading. But home improvement retailer Kingfisher said consumer sentiment had been dented by measures in the government’s budget last October.
The ONS said retail sales levels remained below pre-pandemic levels.
(Writing by William Schomberg）
