The UK private sector picked up speed this month, as new business growth surged to a 15-month-high, numbers on Wednesday showed.
The latest S&P Global flash UK composite purchasing managers’ index rose to 52.7 points in July, from June’s final tally of 52.3. Pushing further above the 50-point neutral mark, and to a two-month-high, the data suggests the nation’s private sector growth quickened this month.
‘Expansions have now been recorded in each of the past nine months, with the index having averaged 53.0 in 2024 so far,’ survey publisher S&P Global said.
S&P Global said the expansion was aided by the ‘sharpest upturn in new business for 15 months’.
The composite reading is calculated using the services and manufacturing scores. Both the services and manufacturing economies remained in growth territory.
The flash services PMI expanded to 52.4 points in July, from 52.1 in June. The manufacturing PMI climbed to 51.8 points, from 50.9.
The services reading was a two-month-high, while the manufacturing PMI spiked to its best level in two years.
‘A rise in transport prices contributed to a marked increase in total input costs at manufacturers in July, with the uplift being the sharpest recorded in one-and-a-half years. However, with services cost inflation easing fractionally to a 41-month low, input cost inflation in the UK private sector was among the softest observed since the beginning of 2021,’ S&P Global said.
Business confidence increased, after slipping to a six-month low last month. Confidence in July was only ‘slightly below the two-year high seen in February’, S&P Global added.
It explained: ‘Manufacturing and services firms were alike in showing greater optimism towards future business activity, amid expectations of improving demand conditions, stronger business investment, interest rate cuts and political stability.’
The survey features a panel of 650 firms across the service and manufacturing sectors. The flash readings include the responses of up to 90% of them.
The final manufacturing data is reported on August 1, before the services and composite indicators on August 5.
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