Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - October 2013

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 23 October 2013

Growth in demand and output had gathered pace.
Underlying consumer confidence and spending had picked up a little further on a year ago.
Demand for housing had continued to strengthen.
Investment intentions remained modestly positive and showed signs of improvement.
Growth in manufacturing output for domestic and overseas markets had picked up.
Business services turnover growth had strengthened as work volumes increased.
Construction output growth had continued to increase as house-building activity rose, though there were rising reports of capacity constraints starting to bite.
Corporate credit availability and demand had increased a little. Payment terms between companies had lengthened in some cases, notably in retail and construction.
Employment intentions had risen in business services. Recruitment difficulties had tightened a little but remained marginally below normal.
Capacity utilisation had continued to recover towards normal in manufacturing. There remained some slack in services, more so in consumer-facing than in business-to-business firms.
The annual rate of growth in labour costs per employee remained modest, but there were early signs of upward pressure for some roles.
Annual growth in the cost of raw materials had eased.
Inflation in manufacturers’ output prices and business services prices remained muted.
Consumer price inflation had remained stable, but was expected to ease in food.