Slowing decline

The CBI’s latest quarterly SME Trends Survey indicates that the rate of decline in orders and output among the UK’s SMEs is slowing.

Medium-sized companies are predicting a return to growth in the next quarter, thanks to an improvement in export orders.

Of the 480 SMEs surveyed, 51 per cent saw the volume of total new orders fall in the three months to July, while 17 per cent reported a rise. The resulting balance of -34 per cent is an improvement on the previous quarter’s balance of -51 per cent, which according to the CBI was the worst figure since the survey began in 1988.

The volume of manufacturing output continued to fall with 43 per cent of firms saying it declined, and 15 per cent saying it rose, giving a balance of -28 per cent. This marked a slower rate of decline than the previous quarter’s survey low of -48 per cent.