Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
As it is the first week of the new month it is time to remind you all that the May business survey is now active online and we like to encourage all our members to participate and supply data. The link to the survey is here http://www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-may15.
Last week saw the MTA host the 2015 European Cutting Tools Association Conference in London, read a full report of the conference below.
With less than a year to go before MACH 2016 we are pleased to announce the Exhibitor Zone is now live on the website. So please head over there and start filling in all of your marketing information, full details below.
In other new the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry is working with aerospace companies to develop new manufacturing techniques which will preserve engineering jobs across the sector.
In just three short week’s (W/C 22nd June) Armed Forces and Reserves Day takes place across the UK. As the MTA are fully signed up the armed forces corporate covenant, we like to inform our members about this upcoming events. More information can be found below.
And if you are looking to support a military charity the MTA have information on how you can connect with them and find the right charity for your business.
Finally, the main economic news this week comes from the PMI figures. There is a wide spread of trends with some countries, including the UK and the euro-zone overall, remaining steady at a good level, but with others showing stronger trends of either expansion or contraction; within the euro-zone, there are some very positive numbers from countries such as Spain and Italy, but tempered by a slightly less strong expansion in Germany and, although better than at any time in the past 12 months, the French PMI reading remains stubbornly below 50. Other data this week also paints a mixed picture with the European Commission indicator of economic sentiment edging up, but a small dip in business being recorded in the CELIMO trends Survey (but note that this also points to a better 2nd quarter).
That is all for this week, we’ll be back next Friday, until then have a fantastic weekend from everyone at the MTA.