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News Release from: Manufacturing Technologies Association
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 25 February 2005
Business confidence continues to
increase
The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) has released the results of its Trends Survey for the fourth quarter of 2004.
The Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) has released the results of its Trends Survey for the fourth quarter of 2004 There were 98 respondents to the survey from across the association
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 1 Dec 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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The percentage balance for business confidence in the fourth quarter increased to +31%.
This continues the run of positive balances, which began in the second quarter of 2003; the improvement from the level in the third quarter of 2004 (which was +20%) reflects better trading conditions in the final period of the year; Order intake was +10% higher than in the third 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.
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.
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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