Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - July 2013

• Annual growth in the value of retail sales and consumer services had risen slightly over the first six months of the year, but remained modest.
• Activity in the housing market had continued to strengthen.
• Investment intentions continued to be largely aimed at raising efficiency, with very little large-scale capacity expansion under way.
• Manufacturing exports continued to grow at a moderate rate.
• Growth in manufacturing output for the domestic market had increased a little in recent months.
• Modest growth in business services turnover had continued.
• The annual rate of decline in construction output had eased as house building had increased. Output in the sector overall was little changed on a year earlier.
• Corporate credit conditions had continued to improve very gradually, but many companies reported a desire to rely on internal or non-bank funding.
• Employment intentions had edged higher in recent months, but were flat for consumer services.
• Capacity utilisation had remained slightly below normal both in manufacturing and services.
• Labour costs per employee had grown at modest but stable rates over recent months.
• Inflation in materials costs had fallen to low levels and had remained stable for imported finished goods prices.
• The rate of increase in manufacturers’ and business services prices had remained subdued, though profitability had edged higher as output had risen.
• The rate of consumer price inflation had been unchanged.

Agents' summary of business conditions - July 2013

• Agents' scores (xlsx)
• Definitions for the Agents’ scores
• Response to consultation on changes to Agents' scores