Business confidence across the UK plastics industry is continuing to flat-line, which will have a negative impact on sales and profitability expectations and investment plans over the coming year, reports the British Plastics Federation (BPF) in its latest survey of Business Conditions.

Conducted in January and February 2015 utilising feedback from 93 member companies, the survey revealed that polymer distributors were particularly pessimistic with only 40 per cent predicting an increase in sales. The construction sector showed the most confidence, with performance promising in pipes and windows.

Whilst two thirds of the firms surveyed were predicting an increase in UK sales turnover only 37 per cent predicted an increase in profitability, which is significantly down from 46 per cent only one year ago and is the lowest figure in two years.

"Overall performance remains robust," said Philip Law, the BPF's director general, "??but the world is currently a very uncertain place and it'??s hardly surprising that manufacturers are exercising cautious judgement and to some extent sitting on their hands. The international political situation is volatile, potentially impacting the supply of raw materials and energy sources and the outcome of the general election only adds to the haze.

"??Despite conservative predictions of future profitability, the survey showed that 52 per cent of firms were planning to increase staffing levels over the next 12 months; the highest ever recorded in our survey.? ??The issue, however, is that firms simply cannot attract the right staff and once again nearly half of those surveyed stated they were having difficulty recruiting. This is something we are looking at tackling head on via our newly established 'Skills and Education Committee'."

 

Source : http://www.plasticsinpackaging.com

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