London, June 5 (BridgeNews) - The Confederation of British Industry released details of its monthly survey of retail sales in March as follows. The figures are in the form of a percentage balance, derived by subtracting the percentage of firms responding negatively to each question from those responding positively. The net figure is then used as an indicator of changes in economic conditions between monthly reports.
* * * The survey covers 15,000 outlets of firms responsible for 40% of employment in retailing.

1. Balance reporting present sales volumes above year ago:
---------2001---------------------------------2000--------------------
May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May
35 32 30 32 36 16 13 0 14 18 24 15 45

2. Balance expecting higher sales volumes:
---------2001-------------------------------2000----------------------
Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun
34 29 26 39 32 11 19 10 18 22 22 26 42

3. Three-monthly avg of balance reporting sales volumes above year ago:
---------2001-------------------------------2000---------------------
May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May
32 31 33 28 22 10 9 11 19 19 28 31 34

4. Balance reporting sales volumes good for the time of year:
---------2001----------------------------------2000-------------------
May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May
16 13 10 15 16 -2 0 -14 0 -16 0 7 12

5. Balance expecting sales volumes good for the time of year:
---------2001---------------------------------------2000---------------
Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May
-1 10 4 21 16 -2 2 -3 1 -5 1 8 10 16

6. Balance reporting volume of stocks above expected demand:
---------2001---------- ----------------------2000-----------------
May Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov Oct Sep Aug Jul Jun May
18 12 12 11 4 19 11 21 10 20 23 25 24