HIGH street stores in the south can hopefully expect a boost in takings over the next six months.

The good news comes from the Confederation of British Industry's latest quarterly distributive trades survey.

Figures show that conditions have improved, although retail sales growth is modest compared with last year.

Retail sales were higher last month than a year earlier, the second consecutive month of year-on-year growth, following a difficult start to 2003 when sales barely grew at all.

Alastair Eperon, chairman of the CBI's Distributive Trades Panel and a director of Boots, said: "Retailers expect some improvement in business conditions during the second half of the year but that is only relative to the weakness of their current situation."

Spending over the past couple of months has been boosted by low interest rates, good weather, low unemployment and the end of the Iraq conflict.

However, Mr Eperon warned that nervousness about how sustainable the sales recovery will be has severely hit retailers' willingness and ability to commit to investment.

Sales were higher than a year ago in almost every retail sector.

Shops selling footwear and leather goods saw the strongest growth, followed by grocers. The biggest year-on-year rates of decline were among furniture and carpet retailers and chemists. The motor trade has also been struggling.

Barry Watson, president of the Southampton and Fareham Chamber of Commerce, said: "Retail in Southampton was transformed by the arrival of our major shopping centre development back in 2000.

"The success of WestQuay has meant we have bucked the sluggishness being experienced around the country indicated in these figures.

"And of course in May we had the boost of the FA Cup. A bad result on the pitch, but great result at the tills.

"An increasing proportion of our region's prosperity is based on retail, so the performance of the sector impacts on many other businesses than just the retail businesses themselves.

"Local business is well advised to keep an eye on the performance of the sector generally, as an indicator of the health of our local economy."