Member Article

Best results in over a decade for North East businesses

Businesses in the region have returned the most positive set of results in over a decade as they answered a major economic survey.

The North East Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES), produced in partnership with Barclays, hit new records as scores for domestic sales and workforce across the private sector are at their highest levels since the NECC was formed in 1995.

Published today, the QES, shows growth across the manufacturing and service sectors, and confidence is particularly strong across oil and gas supply chain-affiliated business, as well as the leisure sector.

Across all indicators, scores are said to be “well into robustly positive territory and significantly better than one year ago.”

NECC director of Policy, Ross Smith, said: “We have ended the year on a real high. Three years of stuttering growth and then the solid, steady progress we have monitored throughout the year has been eclipsed in the final quarter, which is a positive indicator for 2014.

“The North East is fighting back and our businesses are leading the recovery. It is vital that we build on this upsurge in optimism in 2014 and continue the positive trend.

“For the past two years we have been calling on the Government to empower the North East to deliver more for UK Plc and these figures prove that we are capable of so much more. The economic conditions have been far from ideal, yet we have seen the region close the gap on the rest of the UK in our output – next year we must lobby the Government to match the ambitions of our businesses and continue to grow our economy.

“A real positive we can take from these excellent results is that this impressive performance appears broad based. Manufacturing and services are growing strongly. Likewise, in both Local Enterprise Partnership areas, we are also seeing strong balances.

“Following on from December’s news that North East GVA growth is outstripping the majority of the country, this QES represents another significant shot in the arm for the region’s business community.

“Scores represent pace of improvement rather than absolute performance and as a business survey, the QES does not reflect regional economic performance as a whole. Nevertheless, it is the largest business survey in the region and scores have steadily increased throughout 2013 - there is much to be upbeat about at the end of 2013.”

The QES is a trends survey that measures across 11 separate indicators. Any score above zero indicates trading conditions are improving.

A summary of QES of indicators

Brian Foreman, head of North East Mid-Corporate Banking Team for Barclays, said: “The extent of the positivity reflected in the QES is perhaps slightly surprising but it does reflect a strong year for business and augurs well for 2014

“Much of the growth is driven by domestic markets, however I expect export markets to see stronger growth in the future as other economies recover. Recently we’ve seen good statistics from the US and some European markets are rebounding too. Firms need to grab these opportunities over the coming months.

“People are clearly going into 2014 with levels of confidence we haven’t seen for some time and hopefully this report will fuel it further. Whether growth stays as strong remains to be seen, but even more of the same would represent a very good performance.”

Esh Group is one of the leading construction companies in the North of England, employing over 1,000 people. With a group turnover of £174 million, it is estimated that Esh Group generated almost £400 million for the regional economy and the communities in which it works.

Brian Manning, chief executive of Esh Group, said: “Here at Esh the start of the holiday period rolls into our financial year end and we are pleased to report we end the year in good spirits.

“Turnover and margin across our diverse construction activities has improved as the year moved on with the final quarter ending in a flourish. This has ensured a Christmas bonus for our staff and an improved dividend in the New Year for our shareholders many of whom are employees. As a regional business this money will no doubt find its way into the local economies of the North East, Cumbria and Yorkshire where we work.

“We are now really looking forward to 2014 and building upon the success of 2013.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .