UK: April retail sales +0.5% m/m, above expectations

United Kingdom (UK) retail sales grew 0.5% month-on-month in April, versus +0.3% analyst expectations and -1.2% in March (revised from -0, 9%).

On an annual basis, the figure shows a drop of 3%, against the -2.8% of the consensus and the -3.9% of the previous month (corrected by -3.1%).

Excluding fuels, sales rose 0.8% monthly, more than an estimated 0.4%, after -1.4% in March (from -1%) and decreased 2.6% year over year, against -2.8% of the consensus and -4% of the previous month (revised by -3.2%).