Rising confidence in the UK plastics industry

A record 108 British Plastics Federation (BPF) member plastics companies responded to the latest Business Conditions Survey conducted in January. Peter Davis, general director of the BPF, commented: "The survey clearly shows rising confidence particularly on 2014 UK sales turnover with 73% predicting an increase and 49% expecting profitability to increase. 40% are planning to increase staff".
"51% of companies are utilising 80% plus of their production capacity but only 36% plan to invest in plant and equipment significantly, a rather low figure when there must be a need to expand and re-equip after the recession to meet rising demand. But perhaps it reflects the survey finding a lot of unused capacity". Peter Davis noted that companies are experiencing increased difficulty in recruiting staff: "70% found technical managers hard to recruit and it seems sales staff are also difficult to find".
There was a brighter story on apprentices with 66% of companies employing apprentices compared to only 37% in the survey a year ago. The general director of the BPF added: "it's encouraging to see 64 companies employing 232 apprentices. It's an investment in the future. But the survey also shows some companies finding it hard to recruit apprentices".
On the risk of power cuts in the next few years 43% of companies were very concerned, 25% had plans or equipment to avoid power cuts. Peter Davis said: "A worrying 51% of plastics companies said the risk of power cuts could affect their UK investments. The government must speed up replacement of de-commissioned power stations; invest in more gas storage and energy from waste".