Good morning and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief.
We would like to draw your attention to the TRAM UK conference being held at the AMRC in Yorkshire on 10th and 11th November. MTA members are eligible to buy the early bird tickets for this event priced at £230, this offer, is only available until 10th September so book early to avoid disappointment.
BIS have asked us to share some information about trading with Greece, so if you do business in the country please ensure you read their advice carefully.
The CBI has announced that Carolyn Fairbairn is to become its new director-general, taking over from current director-general John Cridland later this year. For further details please see the story below.
MTA Associate Members Moore Stephens have conducted a survey on Manufacturing and Engineering in the UK and have asked us to share the results of their findings with you all. The full details of their research are below.
There is lots of economic news items this week, most of it generally positive with the UK GDP figures being revised upwards and some encouraging numbers on investment generally, even if there was a small quarter-on-quarter fall in spending by the Engineering sector (it is still significantly above where it was a year earlier). The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the UK was 51.4, so still indicating a modest rate of expansion for the sector, but the fall from 51.9 in May inevitably led to some slightly negative headlines; the main issue appears to be export orders, especially in Europe where, despite better PMI numbers, demand for UK exports remains subdued, probably because of the exchange rate situation.
And finally we’d like to draw your attention to our monthly business survey, which we draw important data about the health of the industry.
Until next Friday have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine.