Product category:
Manufacturing orders, contracts, financial reports
News Release from: Manufacturing Technologies Association
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 25 February 2005
UK's machine tool business improved in
2004
The percentage balance for UK machine tool business confidence in the fourth quarter, 2004, increased to +31%, and for the year, order intake is up 25%, reports the UK's MTA.
The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) has released the results of its Trends Survey for the 4th quarter of 2004 The key points of the survey, to which there were 98 respondents from across the Association, were: 1
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 1 Jun 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The percentage balance for business confidence (see note 2) in the 4th quarter increased to +31%.
This continues the run of positive balances, which began in the 2nd quarter of 2003; the improvement from the level in the 3rd quarter of 2004 (which was +20%) reflects better trading conditions in the final period of the year; 2.
Order intake was +10% higher than in the 3rd quarter of 2004; all three sections of the Association reported a strong quarter-on-quarter increase in orders, led on this occasion by the Machinery Manufacturers' Section; 3.
Over the year as a whole, the cumulative total for order intake shows growth of +25%; this is from the level reached at the end of 2003 rather than being a direct year-on-year comparison.
4.
The major constraint on activity was a lack of orders, which was generally driven by the current economic situation.
However, these are traditionally the major problems and interest really comes from reports of other areas of concern in this quarter.
A significant minority of respondents in the Machinery Manufacturers' Section reported that raw materials and capacity were restricting activity, while supply and skilled labour were an issue for a similar number of the Machinery Importers' Section.
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