Manufacturers hail 2014 the year of the recovery

Almost 80% of site managers claimed the UK's economic recovery was underway and 83% were confident of the recovery continuing throughout 2014. Eighty five per cent of factories are upbeat over business prospects for 2014 - a 30% increase on the this time last year. Optimism has been buoyed by a resurgence in domestic orders, the Outlook report found. More than 75% said order books were up on 2012 with 53% tracing the rise to a boom in home-grown sales. Nearly 60% of factories are targeting revenue growth of 5% or more next year, the survey of 133 site managers found. Businesses are backing up growth plans by investing heavily in plant. Over 60% said increased profits in 2013 would be ploughed back into new equipment and factory fittings. Overall, fifty two per cent of sites said they planned to increase investment budgets next year, the Outlook report revealed. New plant, staff training and IT software services were the most popular areas of spend. Manufacturers remain reticent over more speculative investment opportunities like growing exports, the Outlook research found. Just 13% plan to use excess profits to fund international order growth and export growth was superseded by domestic growth as a key business objective for 2014.