Barometer records rise in pressure on SME manufacturers

News

The UK’s SME manufacturers are being hampered by supply chain price changes and half are reporting a drop in profits, the latest Manufacturing Barometer survey reveals.

SWMAS

This quarter’s findings found businesses negatively impacted by lead time changes (85 per cent), energy costs (83 per cent), availability of suitably skilled staff (77 per cent), the ability to pass on rising costs to customers (75 per cent), and inflation (92 per cent).

In a statement, Nick Golding, managing director at South West Manufacturing Advisory Service (SWMAS), said: “Profitability remains a challenge for most firms and is at a similar level to the previous quarter. This indicates trading conditions remain challenging for the manufacturing sector and despite companies keeping a positive outlook, this is not translating into the sales and profits in all cases.”

Over a quarter (27 per cent) of firms said they had increased their staff headcount in the last six months and 30 per cent had increased their investment in capital equipment, which is broadly in line with last quarter’s results and is at a historically low level for this Manufacturing Barometer.

Register now to continue reading

Thanks for visiting The Engineer. You’ve now reached your monthly limit of news stories. Register for free to unlock unlimited access to all of our news coverage, as well as premium content including opinion, in-depth features and special reports.  

Benefits of registering

  • In-depth insights and coverage of key emerging trends

  • Unrestricted access to special reports throughout the year

  • Daily technology news delivered straight to your inbox

Register
Or continue by

Signing in with your registered email address

SME manufacturers