(Alliance News) -Â UK retail sales returned to growth in June as supermarkets benefited from the Euro football championship, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday.
Retail sales by volume were up 0.5% month-on-month in June, ahead of the market forecast of 0.4%, according to FXStreet, and rebounding after a 1.3% decline in May.
The largest contribution came from food stores, where volumes rose by 4.2%.
"Feedback from some retailers suggested that sales were positively boosted in June by the start of the Euro 2020 football championship," the ONS said.
Conversely, non-food stores reported a fall of 1.7% in monthly sales, their first month-on-month fall since the start of the year.
Sales in June were up 9.7% on a year ago and 9.5% higher compared with the pre-pandemic levels of February 2020.
"June's retail sales have picked up again following the dip seen last month, with the main driver coming from food and drink sales, boosted by footfall fans across Britain enjoying the Euros," said Darren Morgan, ONS director of Economic Statistics.
By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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