UK BRC Sales like-for-like for March +20.3% y/y (expected 12.0%)

BRC Sales like-for-like for March beat at +20.3% y/y

• expected 12.0%, prior 9.5%

• +20.3% compared with March of 2020 and +8.3% compared with March of 2019

British Retail Consortium like-for-like sales data strips out the impact of changes in store size.

Total sales are +13.9% y/y vs. February's +1.0%

More info via Reuters:

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said the higher spending this year largely reflected increased purchases of groceries as Britons continued to spend more time at home, with other categories such as clothing and beauty products in decline.

• However, April may bring a turn-around after shops selling 'non-essential' goods were allowed to reopen in England on Monday, with some stores such as discount clothing chain Primark seeing long queues of shoppers.

Payment processor Barclaycard said debit and card spending in March was 7.2% lower than in March 2019.