U.K. Retailers Get Black Friday Boost as Sales Surge

(Bloomberg) -- Black Friday gave U.K. retailers an unexpected boost in the run-up to the key Christmas trading period.

The volume of goods sold in stores and online jumped 1.4 percent in November, the most in six months, following two months of declines. An increase of just 0.3 percent was forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Sales excluding auto fuel rose 1.2 percent.

Key Insights

• Office for National Statistics says increase driven by 5.3 percent rise in sales of household goods. Overall non-food sales rose 2.2 percent; food was unchanged.
• Sales will grow in the fourth quarter unless December sees a monthly decline of 1 percent or more.
• Annual sales growth accelerated to 3.6 percent. The survey was carried out between Oct. 28 and Nov. 24, a period that covered Black Friday on Nov. 23. Non-seasonally adjusted sales were up over 13 percent from a year earlier.
• Online sales exceeded 20 percent of the total for the first time. Promotions began as much as two weeks before Black Friday.

Market Reaction

• The pound climbed after the data and was trading $1.2687 as of 9:40 a.m. London time, up 0.6 percent on the day.

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