Product category:
Manufacturing orders, contracts, financial reports
News Release from: Manufacturing Technologies Association
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 December 2007
Credit crunch affects UK machine tool
orders
In the third quarter of 2007, a seasonal effect on orders, coupled with extreme negative publicity about the effects of the 'credit-crunch' on the UK economy, showed a machine tool orders reduction.
The results of the UK's Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) Quarterly Trends Survey for the third quarter of 2007 showed a reduction in orders, although some of this is a seasonal effect of the Summer period, said the MTA The key points of the survey, which had 105 respondents from across the Association, are as follows
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 13 Apr 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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* The percentage balance for business confidence in the third quarter of 2007 was -13%, having been +6% in the second quarter of the year.
This is the first negative balance for two years, although the Equipment Suppliers section registered a positive balance.
* Order intake was -1.9% lower than in the second quarter of 2007, although the Machinery Importers' Section recorded a quarter-on-quarter increase in business.
* Respondents in all three sections expect a recovery in order intake during the final period of the year; overall, the respondents predict that orders in the fourth quarter of 2007 will be +2.5% higher than in the third period of the year.
Geoff Noon, MTA statistical manager commented that: "Given the doom and gloom about the 'credit crunch' appearing in newspapers virtually everyday during the data collection period for this survey, the fact that the percentage balance for confidence was only a modest negative figure is, we believe, a sign that the underlying fundamentals of business in the sector remain positive".
He added: "Expectations of a positive outcome for business in the last quarter of 2007, coupled with some anecdotal comments, suggest that the decline we saw in the third quarter is largely the effect of the summer holidays and reinforces the view that business levels generally remain good.".
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