Motor trade sales up

"The highest annual growth rates were recorded for convenience store sales (13.1 percent) and sales of accessories (7.2 percent)," it said.

Seasonally adjusted motor trade sales increased by 0.6 percent in October 2014 compared with September 2014. This followed month-on-month changes of 1.2 percent in September 2014 and -0.4 percent in August 2014.

Seasonally adjusted motor trade sales increased by 2.4 percent in the three months ended in October 2014 compared with the previous three months.

Motor trade sales increased by 4.8 percent in the three months ended October 2014 compared with the three months ended October 2013.

The main contributors to this increase were sales of accessories (8.5 percent and contributing 1.4 percent), fuel sales (3.7 percent and contributing 1.0 percent) and new vehicle sales (2.7 percent and contributing 0.8 percent).