High street sales pick-up in June CBI says

Sales volumes on the High Street perked up in June but were expected to stall again in July, the results of a survey showed.

The Confederation of British Industry's distributive trades index jumped from a reading of +2 for May to +12 in June, but was nevertheless lower than the print of +15 which economists had been expecting.

Meanwhile, the balance of retailers' expected sales volumes slipped from +6 in June to +3 for July.

On a positive note, grocers and non-store retailers did especially well in June, the business lobby said, albeit with year-to-date sales among the latter described as broadly in-line with their long-run average.

Yet CBI head of economic intelligence Anna Leach said: "There's no getting away from the fact that life is getting tougher, with retailers clearly cautious over the near-term outlook.

"The new Government must now look to picking up the pace of delivery of much-needed reform. Retailers will want to see a full review of the distorted Business Rates system sooner rather than later."

Motor vehicle sales were back in the black in the year to June; however, during the previous month they had fallen for the first time in three-and-a-half years.

Growth in motor vehicle sales were below retailers' own expectations and expected to remain subdued over the year to July, CBI said.

Thirty per cent of retailers said the volume of their stocks was "high" in comparison to their expected sales, versus 70% who said they were "adequate", for a balance of +30, which was up from a reading of 0 in May.