Sunny Easter 'boosted retailers'

Spurred on by the sunshine, shoppers bought summer clothes, gardening gear and camping equipment, according to the latest British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG report.

The research showed like-for-like comparable sales values across all categories bounced up 4.6% in April, compared to a fall of 1.2% in the previous month.

But the BRC said that while the rise - which is the largest leap since April 2006 - is good news for the battered retail sector, the figures were mainly driven by a sunny Easter this April, compared with the same month last year, when cold, wet weather dominated after a March holiday.

Evening out the seasonal volatility, average figures from February to April showed like-for-like retail sales rose 0.4%.

Clothing sales grew at the fastest rate since 2006, led by women's and childrenswear.

The report said sales of children's clothing were particularly strong because of the school holidays and the view that these items took priority over spending on adults. However, formal styles - particularly men's suits and shirts - continued to fall amid rising unemployment and a general move to conserve cash.

Warm sunny weekend weather helped sales of gardening and outdoor DIY products, and seeds, plants, lawnmowers and tools all sold well.

Furniture and floorcovering sales showed their first year-on-year growth since last January, but the gain was against last year's sharp drop.

The warmer weather benefited furniture for the garden, but indoor items continued to see a difficult market.