Britain’s manufacturing industry is outsmarting the recession according to a report out by professional services firm PwC.
As other sectors struggle to ride the recession, PwC’s ‘From Crisis to Growth’ report shows the UK Manufacturing Plc’s share price index trebled since 2009, and anyone who had invested would have doubled their money over the past five years.
PwC found that when recession strikes, companies tend to focus on eight key areas to survive including scenario planning, supply chains, R&D and focusing more on the customer.
Clive Penwarden, industrial manufacturing partner at PwC, said: “This research has supported our positive view of how the UK industrial manufacturing sector is performing. We first looked at these companies in 2010 to see what strategies they were implementing to deal with the impact of the recession and found they weren’t just reducing their costs like many sectors in the UK, they saw the financial crisis as an opportunity for growth.”
Firms analysed include Senior Plc, based in Hertfordshire, Renishaw, Berkshire-based advanced materials group, Morgan Crucible and Melrose, which acquires and invests in manufacturing businesses.
Penwarden said: “The businesses we looked at restructured, re-strategised, became agile and flexible and looked to emerging markets for future growth. The strategies they implemented were crucial for survival, and have proven to be sustainable.
Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser at PwC, added: “This is a great time of opportunity for manufacturers, and this report shows that UK companies are really rising to the challenge. Growth in Asia and other emerging markets is providing significant new export potential, offsetting the more disappointing performance in some parts of the euro area.”
