Posted on 25.02.2014, by Rob Warlow
With the economy picking up confidence is beginning to return and small to medium sized manufacturers in England are set to embark on a major investment drive in order to meet expected increase in demand.
A survey from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) has revealed that 86% of respondents were planning to invest in capital equipment over the next twelve months, with companies looking to spend £121,000 on average.
Two thirds of the firms questioned are looking to purchase new plant and machinery, and just over half are focused on upgrading IT/communications infrastructure and nearly a third on improving premises.
So what’s prompting this investment drive?
The key reasons cited by those businesses surveyed were boosting efficiency and quality (31%), followed by developing new products/processes (30%) and extending existing capacity (22%).
Interestingly fewer than one in five companies (19%) said they planned to approach banks to fund capital equipment purchases in the next year, with manufacturers instead choosing to secure money via grants (27%) and the Regional Growth Fund (21%).
A even more positive sign that the economy is kicking back into life is that 62% of companies reported an increase in sales over the last six months, whilst over three quarters of businesses (76%) expect to boost sales between now and June 2014.
If you are looking at growth plans this year then we’re happy to have a chat about your financing options.