Sales on the High Street pick up

Version 0 of 1.

High Street sales grew at their fastest annual rate for almost two years in October, a CBI survey has said.

Some 41% of retailers said sales volumes had risen in the past year, while 33% said they had fallen.

The resulting balance of +8% was the highest recorded by the business group's distributive trades survey since December 2007.

Sectors related to the housing market, such as stores selling white goods and furniture, improved in particular.

The survey also showed that retailers are at their most optimistic since July 2007, as a balance of +19% expected sales to increase in November.

"The outlook for November is encouraging," said Andy Clarke, chairman of the CBI's distributive trades panel.

"But overall the economy remains troubled and some retailers will find the recovery slow and painful."

Mr Clarke added that he expects some customers to "bring forward big ticket purchases to beat the VAT rise in January".

A 2.5% cut in VAT came into effect on 1 December 2008, reducing the tax to 15%, but it is set to return to 17.5% in the new year.