March saw the first rise in output for North East manufacturing and services firms in nine months amid stronger demand and renewed confidence, a new report shows.
But despite the promising indicator, businesses still continued to shed staff and faced significant cost pressures. Data in the NatWest North East PMI Business Activity Index shows North East firms experienced the first output expansion since June 2022, and the region also crept up the regional rankings from last to eighth of 12 UK regions monitored.
New business rose for the third month running, and at the sharpest rate since August 2021, which NatWest said had helped to spur confidence to a 12-month high, but still the weakest among all regions. Only London saw a faster rise in new orders across March.
