Engineering firms upbeat despite Brexit uncertainties
● Latest Scottish Engineering study reveals export lift ● However, skills shortages persist in certain sectors
Scotland’s engineering sector has battled a backdrop of “political uncertainty” to report increased order levels and output.
Industry leaders said they were “heartened” by the trend but cautioned that the loss of some skilled immigrant workers amid the fallout from last June’s Brexit vote was already being felt.
Publishing its latest quarterly review today, trade body Scottish Engineering said firms throughout the country were reporting that business was “good” with some businesses highlighting an “exceptional” trading year.
Bryan Buchan, the organisation’s chief executive, said: “We are heartened by these reports which I have gathered from our district meetings around the country. Of course, many businesses are suffering from the continued fall-out from the decrease in oil related activity on the UK Continental Shelf and the effect of the weak pound on raw material prices.
“However, in his autumn Budget the Chancellor’s proposal to change tax policy allowing new owners of North Sea installations to reclaim corporation tax on decommissioning costs should attract new investment to the oil and gas industry.”
During the latest review period, a particular improvement was recorded in export orders, compared to the previous quarter, which the report put down, in part, to the ongoing weakness of the pound against other European currencies and the dollar.
Employment levels across all sectors and company sizes remained steady as did the amount of overtime being worked. The report pointed to continuing skills shortages in some areas.
Buchan added: “The likely loss of some of our skilled immigrant workers due to sterling’s relative weakness against the euro is already being felt in some quarters.
“On a more positive note, we have great hopes for the new apprenticeship initiatives with foundation apprenticeships promising to deliver business-ready school leavers and graduate level apprenticeships accelerating the return of desperately needed qualified engineers.”
The report comes after the latest ICAEW Business Confidence Monitor yesterday revealed a slight improvement north of the Border.
Although still in negative territory, the headline figure of -2.4 is a notable increase from the -11.9 seen in the final quarter of 2016. Positive indicators for exports and profit growth are being tempered by Brexit uncertainties, the report said. Female staff at Royal Dutch Shell earn more than a fifth less than their male colleagues, the oil giant has revealed. The FTSE 100 group’s gender pay gap report showed a difference of 22.2 per cent on average for male and female employees in the UK. But it said it was “confident we have equal pay” and stressed the gap was largely down to the lack of women in senior management roles and higher-paid technical and trading jobs. Two-thirds of the group’s employees are male.