–Aug Retail Sales inc. fuel -0.5% m/m; +0.4% y/y
–Aug retail sales ex fuel -0.4% m/m; +1.9% y/y

LONDON (MNI) – Retail sales posted their first monthly fall for
seven months in August, as consumers stayed away from the High Street
following three months of robust growth.

Figures released by National Statistics Thursday showed retail
sales volumes fell 0.5% on the month in August and were up 0.4% on the
year. This was the first monthly decline since January and was below the
median forecast for a small rise of 0.2% on the month and increase of 2%
on the year.

Series rebasing, seasonal adjustment changes and standard revisions
to the data all meant that the originally estimated July increase of
1.1% was revised down to 0.8%.

The latest monthly fall follows three months of robust growth in
sales and too much should not be read into a single month’s data. In
hand with other recent weaker data, however, many may will see this
latest drop as the start of a longer downturn in retail spending.

Leading the fall on the month in August was a 2.1% decline in
volumes at ‘other goods’ stores which include sales of sports equipment,
games, watches and jewellery among other goods. This latest fall
followed a large 6.3% increase in July.

There were also declines in clothing and footwear and household
goods stores of 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.

Within the non-food sector which overall showed a 0.7% drop in
volumes on the month, the only sector to post a rise was department
stores which showed growth of 0.9%.

Food sales fell 0.5% on the month and non-store retailing showed
strong growth of 2.1% between July and August.

Excluding auto-fuel retail sales were down 0.4% on the month and
were up 1.9% on the year, below the median forecast for an increase of
0.2% on the month and 2.5% on the year.

The retail sales deflator, a guide to price inflation on the High
Street, eased to 1.5% in August from 1.7% in July. Excluding auto fuel
the deflator increased to 0.7% from 0.6%.

–London bureau: 00 44 207 862 7492; email: drobinson@marketnews.com

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