British retail sales better than ONS results

The British Retail Consortium has slammed data suggesting December trading was slow as "too pessimistic".

The BRC was reacting to figures released by the Office for National Statistics which stated that ONS’s figure of 2.6% for annual growth in sales values during December is less than half the 6% result calculated by the BRC.

BRC economist, Richard Lim, said: "The figures are right to show December sales values were up on a year ago. Customers clearly felt more confident about spending than they have for some time. Sales growth was also helped by the VAT cut dropping out of the 12-month comparison, December being the first and only month where the 15% is the same as a year earlier.

Lim added: “But these ONS sales figures paint a more pessimistic picture than we would have expected. ONS’s figure is less than half the 6% result in our own Retail Sales Monitor, published last week.

“It’s also at odds with a spate of company trading results since Christmas that show December sales well up on the previous year – with some retailers even recording double digit growth."

Jane Parkinson, 25.01.10