News Article - 01 December 2008
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Sales on the high street picked up by almost twice the rate expected in June, the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) have revealed.

Retail sales grew by 0.9 per cent last month, which was well above the predicted 0.4 per rise.

In terms of the total number of sales, volume was up 2.1 per cent on the previous three months. Most of the upturn was as a result of non-food sales.

The World Cup is widely thought to have provided a significant boost to the UK's flagging retail sector.

"Although the retail sector did get a large boost from the World Cup in June, it may not be booming as one may first believe by looking at the headline figures," argued Jonathan Said, senior economist for the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

"While the UK consumer continues on his upswing path this year, he remains cautious on how much he is willing to spend, and therefore, having brought forward spending for the World Cup, we are likely to see a compensating cut back later in the year," he added.

Last week, the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) retail sales monitor reported a similar year-on-year 2.3 per cent sales increase.

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