OPTIMISM among small and medium-sized manufacturers in the UK has risen in the latest quarter at its fastest pace since comparable records began in 1988, on the back of increases in output, new orders and employment.
The surge in optimism and rise in activity are revealed in the Confederation of British Industry's latest SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) trends survey, published today.
The survey shows a fourth consecutive quarterly increase in optimism among small and medium-sized manufacturers in the three months to April.
Of the 366 firms that responded, 46% said they were more optimistic about their business situation than three months earlier, with only 10% less hopeful and the remainder signalling no change in confidence.
The net 36% of firms experiencing a rise in optimism was the greatest balance reporting such an improvement since records began in 1988, the CBI noted.
The CBI SME trends survey has painted a mixed picture of export orders in recent quarters.
The latest survey shows that with 25% of firms reporting a rise in export orders and 16% recording a fall, a net 9% posted an increase. This is an improvement on a balance of 7% reporting a decline in export orders in the previous quarterly survey. However, the rate of growth in incoming export business in the three months to April was well adrift of the pace of domestic order growth.
A net 18% of survey respondents reported a rise in domestic orders in the latest quarter.
And export orders for small and medium-sized manufacturers have, even with the latest rise, increased in only two of the latest six quarters.
The survey signals a sharp acceleration in the pace of output growth for SMEs in the manufacturing sector in the three months to April.
Of firms surveyed, 33% said output volumes had risen in the latest quarter, with only 16% reporting a decline. The balance of 17% of firms reporting a rise signals a significantly faster pace of increase in output volumes than the previous quarterly survey, in which a net 6% of small and medium-sized manufacturers had reported a rise.
The survey also signals a sharp pick-up in the pace of recruitment by SMEs in the manufacturing sector in the three months to April, with a net 16% reporting a rise in numbers employed.
In the previous quarterly survey, a balance of 4% had reported a rise in numbers employed.
Small and medium-sized manufacturers are projecting further increases in output volumes, new orders, and employment in the coming three months.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article