A new report suggests East Midlands businesses were feeling more confident in January.
According to the latest NatWest East Midlands PMI, private sector firms are having a new lease of life with business activity supported by a return to growth in new orders.
The “solid increase” in client demand also resulted in the recent 12 month sequence of job shedding ending, as employment was broadly unchanged.
The NatWest report said business confidence was the strongest it had been for 16 months.
Key findings of the report included:
- Output and new business rose solidly
- Inflationary pressures intensified
- Business confidence was at its highest level since September 2018
- Business activity is picking up in 2020
John Maude, NatWest regional managing director across the Midlands & East of England, said: “January data signalled a positive start to 2020, with output and new orders rebounding back to growth and expanding at solid rates across the East Midlands private sector.
“Firms remained cautious in their hiring activity, however, as employment was broadly unchanged from that seen at the end of 2019, following some reports of sufficient capacity to cope with incoming new orders.
“Nevertheless, a notable uptick in business confidence and growth in client demand pushed output prices higher.
“In fact, the rate of charge inflation was the sharpest of the 12 monitored UK regions as companies sought to pass on higher costs.”
NatWest’s headline business activity index for the East Midlands suggested the first increase in business activity since last April.
Moreover, it said the rate of growth was the fastest since last February, with firms linking the upturn to greater client demand and a pick-up in new orders.
The expansion was slightly slower than the UK average.
Companies indicated a renewed rise in client demand in January, with new business increasing for the first time for three months.
The rate of expansion was the quickest for 11 months and solid overall.
Employment was broadly unchanged in January, it said.
