Britain’s largest manufacturers believe the UK is increasing its competitiveness as a global hub for manufacturing, despite high energy costs, worker shortages and political instability holding back progress.
In a crunch period for the economy before the general election, the manufacturing trade body Make UK and the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said industry bosses were growing more confident about the sector’s prospects, but “headwinds of sustained economic challenges” still remained.
Publishing the findings of a survey of more than 200 senior manufacturing executives, Make UK said a majority believed Britain was becoming a more competitive place to locate industrial production than 12 months ago.
Accrol Group Holdings plc (LON:ACRL) is the UK’s leading independent tissue converter, producing toilet tissue, kitchen towel, facial tissue and biodegradable wet wipes. The UK soft tissue market is worth £1.6bn with private label products comprising circa 50%. Accrol is the leading supplier to the private label market, which is growing at over 8% year on year.