German business confidence has hit its third record high in a row, the Ifo institute said today. The German Ifo index reached a record of 111.2 points in February, Ifo data showed, an indication that 'the upswing in the German economy is robust,' president Hans-Werner Sinn said in a statement. It was the index's ninth consecutive increase and the institute's business expectations index also set a new record at 107.9 points. Analysts had expected the main index for Germany, Europe's biggest economy, to remain at the January level of 110.3 points and had forecast a dip in the expectations index to 107.6 points. Ifo's survey of some 7,000 companies found that in the core manufacturing sector, the climate index rose though expectations saw 'a slight downward adjustment,' the statement said. Sentiment in the retail sector had 'cooled off somewhat', with retailers 'no longer quite as satisfied with their present business situation as before,' it added.