BUSINESS LIVE: Retail sales stagnate; 888 revenues beat forecasts; Home REIT raises £15.9m

Two female executives are leaving BP in the first reshuffle since former boss Bernard Looney stepped down for not disclosing relationships with colleagues.

Leigh-Ann Russell, chief technology officer, is departing after 18 years at the oil giant, while Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath is standing down after two years leading the firm’s gas and low carbon division. Both will be replaced by men.

Thomas Pugh, economist at RSM UK:

‘The flatness in retail sales in March means that sales volumes rose by 1.9% quarter-on-quarter in Q1, another strong sign that the recession that marred the second half of last year is over.

‘We expect retail sales volumes to continue to gradually improve from here for three key reasons. First, households’ real disposable incomes are set to rise rapidly from April as inflation drops back to 2% and tax cuts kick in. This will boost overall consumer spending and retail sales volumes. What’s more, consumer confidence should continue to rise ensuring that households spend most of their new income.

‘Second, inflation is especially weak within retail sales. The price of retail goods increased by just 2.2% year-on-year in March, the slowest rise since early 2021. This means that continued strong nominal spending will increasingly show up in sales volumes.

‘Third, retail sales volumes are still about 2% below their pre-pandemic level. This is partly a hangover after a huge splurge in spending on goods during the pandemic.

‘But after two years of reduced spending on retail goods, households will need to start replacing some of those things bought during the pandemic. What’s more, as the housing market starts to recover and transactions increase, this will boost demand for household goods.’

Silvia Rindone, EY UK&I retail lead:

‘After a challenging start to the year, retail sales remained flat in March after an increase of 0.1% in February.

‘Easter did not bring the increase in sales that retailers were hoping for, with sales volumes and values remaining relatively unchanged for a second month. Non-food stores saw sales volumes rise by 0.5%, while food stores and non-store retailers saw a fall of 0.7% and 1.5%.

‘As we head into the summer months, retailers are hoping for a turning of the tide as consumer confidence grows.’

UK retail sales volumes stagnated for the second month in a row in March, missing forecasts of 0.3 per cent growth, according to Office for National Statistics data.