Warmer May 'helps' UK High Street

Concern about the economy is affecting retail sales, the BRC said.

Warm, sunny weather brought shoppers back to the UK High Street in May, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Like-for-like retail sales were up 1.9% compared with May 2007. Total sales, which include new stores, rose 4.6%.

However, it said the weather's positive effect was "superficial" as consumer confidence had dropped to "new lows".

The sun helped sales of food and barbecues, though furniture sales were hard hit by the housing slowdown.

'Miserable months'

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

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

Falling property prices and rising food and fuel bills are causing households to cut back on spending, the BRC said.

Using the broader three-month measure for retail sales between March and May, like-for-like sales fell 0.5% compared to the same period a year earlier.

Many analysts prefer to use the three-month figure as it is less volatile than the monthly data.

When newly opened stores were taken into account, total sales rose 2.1% between March and May.

'No growth'

The latest manufacturing data for April also showed an unexpected upward trend.

The level of output from UK factories rose 0.1% in April compared to the same month a year ago, the Office for National Statistics said.

The cooler April weather boosted industrial output by 0.2%, due to higher energy production.

Analysts had predicted that there would be no growth in manufacturing and industrial output.

"The trend remains fairly flat and surveys suggest little or no growth lies ahead," said economist Michael Saunders from Citibank.