Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - April 2012

We regularly publish a summary of reports compiled by our twelve regional Agents following discussions with at least 700 businesses across the UK every reporting period.

Published on 18 April 2012

Consumer demand growth remained modest, although there were some reports of an improvement in trading conditions over the past few months.
There had been tentative signs of a rise in activity in the housing market, although demand was still significantly below its pre-recession level.
Investment intentions pointed to a gradual rise in capital spending over the coming year, and plans had strengthened a little recently.
Export growth remained robust, and had edged upward on the month.
There had been an increase in the rate of growth of business services turnover.
Contacts reported a modest increase in manufacturing output for the domestic market.
Output in the construction sector was thought to be lower than a year earlier.
Contacts reported that there had been some tightening in credit conditions, primarily in terms of the cost of finance. Most firms still had access to credit if required.
Private sector employment intentions suggested that employment was likely to be broadly flat over the next six months.
Levels of capacity utilisation were typically somewhat below normal, with rather more slack in services than manufacturing.
Labour costs were rising at a moderate pace.
Non-labour costs continued to grow steadily, but the pace of inflation had slowed in recent months, and was now around its historical average.
Manufacturing output price inflation had begun to decline, reflecting slowing inflation in input costs. The prices charged by business services were broadly flat on a year earlier.
Consumer price inflation continued to edge down, but remained elevated.