The British economy grew 0.4% in the second quarter, in line with expectations, outpacing the previous quarter's 0.2% reading, according to a preliminary estimate from the Office for National Statistics.

The acceleration follows a weak print in the first quarter, which was impacted by adverse weather conditions.

"Today's figures show that there has been some unwinding of the impacts in affected industries. The pick-up in [the second quarter] reflects, to some extent, consumers taking advantage of the warm weather and World Cup celebrations," the statistics office said.

However, the underlying trend in real GDP is one of slowing growth.

The services industry rose 0.5% and construction grew 0.9%. Household spending was up 0.3% and business investment increased 0.5% quarter over quarter.

Output in the production sector fell 0.8%, the weakest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2012. The decline was attributed to a fall of 0.9% in manufacturing and a 2.7% decline in energy supply.

On an annual basis, GDP growth came in at 1.3% in the three months to June, also in line with expectations, compared with a 1.2% annual growth in the first quarter.

Sterling was down nearly 0.50% against the dollar as of 5:11 a.m. ET.