Newsletter Listing intro for week 40

This week’s Friday Brief sees a number of announcements highlighting business support opportunities across the manufacturing sector.

The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, earlier in the week launched a £60 million programme drawn from the Regional Growth Fund and bank finance investment. The programme is aimed at encouraging small and medium enterprises to expand and has a flexible framework.

Lloyds Bank Commercial is rolling out its export mentors initiative aimed at assisting firms considering exporting for the first time or improving their export performance. The MTA is co-ordinating interest from members in this scheme.

A new manufacturing technology hub has been unveiled at the University of Nottingham. The institute has links to partners in Malaysia and China and is keen to talk to manufacturers about co-operative projects.

Economic news with a focus on manufacturing is highlighted in the MTA’s latest report from China. Mixed fortunes for the nation’s automotive sector are described.

Finally, Geoff Noon gives an overview of the latest economic statistics that will have an impact on the manufacturing sector in the UK.

Have an enjoyable weekend.

£60 million small business scheme

£60m small business scheme launched through Regional Growth Fund

The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable, launched a £60 million pot of Regional Growth Fund investment and bank finance at the Community Development Finance Association’s (CDFA) annual conference this week.

The CDFA will receive £30 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) which has been matched with a further £30 million by the Co-operative Bank and Unity Trust Bank to provide lending to small, micro and social enterprises.

Read more about £60 million small business scheme

Export mentoring opportunity

A free mentoring programme for would be exporters or those companies interested in improving their export performance has been established by Lloyds TSB Commercial and UKTI.

Lloyds now have their international mentors fully trained and linked to their not for profit mentoring agency the Institute of Enterprise & Entrepreneurships. The Lloyds mentors are ready to offer support to businesses.

Read more about Export mentoring opportunity

New manufacturing hub at Nottingham

The Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, has opened a new Institute for Advanced Manufacturing at The University of Nottingham.
The aim of the Institute is to centralise activity and drive the development of cutting-edge technology in one of the University’s key research areas. It encompasses an international team of established academics in their respective fields in the UK and also at the University’s campuses in Malaysia and China.

Read more about New manufacturing hub at Nottingham

China economic overview

China’s economic growth is slowing according to performance figures released in recent months. Chinese industrial business’s profits dropped by 6.2% year on year in August and is the fifth straight month of decline. For companies with sales revenues exceeding $3.17 million, the first eight months of this year saw total profits fall by 3.1% over the same period in 2011.

Read more about China economic overview

Economic data update

PMI, UK and Euro-zone, September 2012: The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for manufacturing in the UK edged down in September to 48.4, from 49.6 in August; this is now the 5th successive month below the benchmark of 50 which marks the boundary between contraction and expansion. The report from Markit, who compile almost all of the global PMI reports, points to lower production and lacklustre order intake and a further reduction in employment; a further negative this month is a rise in input costs as oil, food and other commodity prices are increasing.

Read more about Economic data update

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