Business News

Warm and sunny days in May contributed to a 1.9% rise in sales compared to same month last year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)'s Retail Sales Monitor.

The like-for-like figures, which exclude the effect of stores opening and closing, will be welcome news for retailers facing lower consumer confidence and higher factory gate prices.

The rise is the first year-on-year growth in sales since February, but the BRC warned that "underlying trade remained tough".

"After several mostly miserable months, warm sunny weather finally arrived in early May and helped lift customers' gloom," said BRC director-general Stephen Robertson.

"But we are not out of the woods yet," he warned. "The economic fundamentals remain weak."

The BRC's figures reveal that food and clothing sales picked up during the month, but that furniture, larger homewares and 'big-ticket' electrical items continued to struggle, despite heavy discounting.

Meanwhile, retail giant Tesco today announced a 3.5% rise in like-for-like sales excluding petrol for the first quarter of its financial year.