Retail sales rose more than expected in February, boosted by strong demand for tablet devices, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed Thursday.

Total sales increased by 2.1% last month, compared with -0.7% in January, beating the 0.4% consensus.

Core sales, excluding fuel, increased by 1.9% when compared to January, and by 3.3% on the year.

Nominal sales were also strong, rising by 1.8% on the previous month, while retail sales inflation remained weak at 0.7% year-on-year.

Strong sales at computer equipment retailers and department stores provided the largest contribution to February's rise, along with solid online results, the ONS said.

Online spending accounted for 9.7% of all retail spending, excluding fuel, in February. The average weekly spend online rose 10% to £540m compared to a year ago.

The weekly spend across all retail sectors amounted to £6.3bn in February compared with £6.1bn a month earlier and for the same period a year ago.

Barclays said the figures indicted the retail sector was likely to see growth in the next quarter.

"This improvement is welcome given the underlying trend in consumer spending has been very weak for a prolonged period, as the hit to consumers from high inflation and a weak labour market has been significant," the bank said.

"However, we think that despite the positive news it is too soon to call for a significant change in fortunes here and other data releases we have had this week were not supportive of the consumer sector.

"Earlier in the week we saw inflation rising further and earnings growth falling unexpectedly, suggesting the squeeze in real household incomes is set to continue and the outlook for retailing remains challenging."

The data was released the same day UK retail giants NEXT and Ted Baker reported an increase in annual profits.

RD

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