Factories hire at fastest rate for 18 months

FACTORIES are hiring staff at the fastest rate for nearly a year-and-a-half amid rising confidence in British industry. Small and medium sized manufacturers are creating jobs alongside large-scale producers, a survey by research group IHS Markit found.

The report also showed optimism among manufacturers has reached a ten-month high as the weak pound boosts demand for British- made goods overseas. Sterling has fallen 16pc against the US dollar and 10pc against the euro since the Brexit vote.

‘Between the eu referendum in June 2016 and the triggering of Article 50 last week, British manufacturers have completed a remarkable return to confidence,’ said Duncan Brock, a director at the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, which compiled the report with IHS Markit.

The index of activity in the sector – where scores above 50 show growth – slipped from 54.5 in February to a fourmonth low of 54.2 in March.

Despite the loss of momentum, it rounded off a ‘solid’ first quarter of the year for manufacturers. The slump in the pound since the Brexit vote has boosted exports. They hit a record £146.9bn in the final three months of last year.

The flurry of upbeat figures have undermined claims that a vote to leave the european union would be a disaster for the British economy. Mike rigby, head of manufacturing at Barclays, welcomed the figures but warned ‘with inflation looming large, manufacturers should be increasingly conscious of the potential softening of UK domestic demand, which has been fuelling growth for some time’.

A separate report by property agent Cushman & Wakefield showed foreign investors are ploughing money into London’s West end in a vote of confidence in Brexit Britain.