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UK retailers benefited from improved levels of trading throughout April, as the late Easter holiday weekend combined with a blast of warm weather to encourage shoppers onto the high street.

According to latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and accountancy firm KPMG, retail sales rose 6.8 per cent on a like-for-like basis and 9.8 per cent overall in April, against a weak comparable period 12 months earlier. Those selling clothing and footwear were amongst the biggest beneficiaries of the uplift as were businesses operating in the DIY sector.

But the three-month picture looks a little less rosy. Like-for-like retail sales between February and April were up just 1.7 per cent, leading the BRC to implore a degree of watchfulness.

‘While any uplift in sales is welcome, the distortion arising from the timing of Easter and the weather underlines the need for caution,’ director general Kevin Hawkins propounds. ‘Discounting has also played a big part in these results. We need to see the figures for this month before forming any tentative conclusion about the underlying trend.’

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