Optimism across UK companies has risen, despite the latest Covid-19 restrictions pushing activity down last month.
The latest PMI survey from data firm Markit shows the UK service sector contracted during November’s English lockdown and restrictions in other areas (to no-one’s surprise).
They say: “November data indicated a reduction in UK private sector output for the first time in five months, with weakness across the service economy more than offsetting robust manufacturing growth.”
But the contraction was much more muted than in April, and less severe than expected.
Service providers often cited resilient spending among businesses in sectors that had remained open in November, says Markit, adding: “Both manufacturing and service sector companies recorded an improvement in business optimism towards the year ahead outlook.
“Measured overall, the degree of positive sentiment across the UK private sector was the strongest since March 2015. Survey respondents mostly cited hopes that the impact of the pandemic on business operations would ease substantially over the next 12 month.”
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