One of our Patrons, NewsJournal, has supplied us with the good news from the CBI.
Retailers reported that sales volumes grew for the first me in five months in the year to April.
This was probably boosted by the later timing of Easter this year compared to last year . Indeed, sales were above average for the me of year, to broadly the same extent as March. Orders placed against suppliers also returned to growth and are expected to improve further next month, as are sales volumes.
The picture for sub-sectors within retailing was mixed. Grocers and ‘other normal goods’ were the two primary drivers of sales growth in April. But while grocers’ sales returned to growth this month, are being broadly flat in March, the increase was still below the long-run average. The picture was also worse in other sectors, with clothing and department stores seeing notable declines in sales.
For all the facts and figures…and more… click here.