by Nuno Caldeira-Pereira | Jan 17, 2019 | Sectors, Sectors 2018
The first man-made plastic was invented in the UK in the 19th century and it remains a key domestic industry, with an annual turnover of around £25.5bn and the third largest employment figures of any manufacturing sector. The UK plastics industry today is heavily...
by Nuno Caldeira-Pereira | Jan 17, 2019 | Sectors, Sectors 2018
2018 saw the UK metals industry in apparent good health. The steel industry was buoyant, with UK players investing to upgrade their facilities and making overseas acquisitions. Lightweighting remained a key market driver for aluminium, particularly in the context of...
by Nuno Caldeira-Pereira | Jan 17, 2019 | Themes, Themes 2018
A destructively high level of takeover activity has characterised UK manufacturing for many years, both ‘domestic’ acquisitions by UK companies, predominantly quoted or private equity, and ‘inward’ acquisitions by foreign companies. Exhibit 1 shows the longer-term...
by Nuno Caldeira-Pereira | Jan 17, 2019 | Sectors, Sectors 2018
Above: The new Costa roastery in Basildon, Essex, before it opened for full production. Shortages of skilled and unskilled labour will become more acute as the realities of exiting the EU bite – in whatever form that exit plays out. Other effects already evident by...
by Nuno Caldeira-Pereira | Jan 17, 2019 | Themes, Themes 2018
THE PICTURE IS PATCHY AS BREXIT CASTS A SHADOW Nervousness mixed with optimism: that sums up the mood among manufacturers as they contemplate the investment picture in 2019, as Brexit looms. Over the past year many industrial groups have put off capital spending or...
