**MNI 5 THINGS: UK Sales Post Stronger-Than-Expected Bounce

--UK Feb Sales Pick-Up, Beat Expectations

By Jamie Satchithanantham and Laurie Laird

     **LONDON (MNI) - The following are the key points from the ONS' retail

sales data published Thursday by the Office for National Statistics.

     - Extending a trend seen in six of the past eight years, February retail

sales constituted an upside data surprise. Sales volumes grew by 0.8% m/m in

February, above the Bloomberg consensus of 0.3% m/m and the MNI median of 0.5%

m/m.

     - That means volumes must grow by 0.6% m/m in March for Q1 sales to match

the level of Q4 last year. Retail sales comprise 5.4% of GDP and grew by 0.5%

q/q in the final quarter of 2017.

     - Internet sales rose by 3.1% in value terms, taking online transactions to

a record high 17.2% of all sales, lifting non-store retailing by 4.6% between

February and March. The ONS has yet to conduct any in-depth research as to

whether internet sales are displacing physical sales or creating new markets.

     - Food store sales rose by 1.1% m/m in Feb, rebounding from a 0.8% drop in

both January and December. Supermarket sales accounted for all of the strength,

with specialist food outlets suffering falls.

     - Retail price inflation moderated to an annual rate of 2.5%, the sixteenth

straight increase, but the smallest rise since January of 2017.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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