Expert Lawyer Says Confidence Will Return Following Brexit Deal

The latest IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) reached 51.1 in October - showing a decline in new orders and employment for the first time since the Brexit vote in July 2016.

Despite October’s dip, almost half of UK manufacturers surveyed were optimistic for the next 12 months, citing new product development, increasing capacity and new opportunities for exports in the pipeline. 

Expert Opinion

“The manufacturing sector has been incredibly resilient over the last few years, but with negotiations on Brexit now at a crucial phase, the levels of uncertainty detected by this survey, are not surprising.

“Manufacturers are of course not blind to what is going on and many have been planning for different scenarios once we finally leave the EU. This hard work will no doubt pay off and I look forward to seeing an uplift in positivity from the sector once the picture on trade becomes clearer.”
Dorrien Peters - Partner

David Johnson at Halo Financial said: “There seems to be a consensus that there will, at some point, be an end to the uncertainty.

“Companies have been getting on with business and planning ahead as much as they can, but there is only so much that can be done with so much global uncertainty about the future or our trading relationships.

 “Another positive note is that input costs and output pricing inflation, while still high, have eased, which is another area that has been piling the pressure on to the sector.

“We handle the foreign exchange needs of companies from a very broad spectrum of sectors and our experience is that companies across the UK are taking steps to prepare their businesses and create contingency plans. The outlook is still one of cautious optimism.

“The effects of the deal or no deal uncertainty are strong, but there is certainly hope that they will ease once some clarity emerges. In the meantime, manufacturers need to do all they can to protect existing trading relationships, forge ahead with new ones and protect their international payments to maximise profitability.”