small and medium-sized manufacturers in the UK has fallen at the
steepest rate since January 1999, a new survey has found.
The quarterly study, produced by the Confederation of British
Industry (CBI) and involving almost 500 small and medium
manufacturing companies, found that a net balance of 33 percent of
the SMEs surveyed reported a contraction in domestic and export
orders in the last three months.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Access deeper industry intelligence
Experience unmatched clarity with a single platform that combines unique data, AI, and human expertise.
According to the survey, SMEs are also cutting staff for the
first time in 18 months, with 29 percent saying that they had to
reduce the number of employees, and an increasing amount of
companies say they expect to cut more jobs by the end of the
year.
Six per cent of firms said access to credit or finance was
likely to limit output in the coming quarter, and one in ten said
it was likely to limit export orders.
