Retail sales growth sluggish in March

UK retail sales rose by a worse than expected 0.4% from February to March, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

In the month to March food stores increased by 0.1% while predominantly non-food stores increased by 0.3%, the ONS says, with rises across all sectors apart from textile, clothing and footwear stores, which decreased by 1.1%. The largest rise was non-specialised stores at 1.5%. The ONS has also revised February's growth up to 2.5% from an initial reading of 2.1%. Sales volumes in the three months to March decreased by 1.7% compared to the previous three months. This is the largest decrease since monthly records began in January 1988. Year on year, the volume of retail sales in Marc...