Latest England And Wales Regional Purchasing Managers’ index from Lloyds Bank shows increase in UK Business Activity

When business activity is strong, demand for a variety of legal documents can increase. Luckily, whether companies are after templates for trade credit applications, purchase orders, invoices or anything else, they can find the resources quickly and easily online.
If new figures provided by Lloyds Bank are correct, many organisations across the country may be after documents like these. Its latest England and Wales regional purchasing managers’ index revealed that all nine English regions experienced solid growth in business activity over the final quarter of 2013.  Meanwhile, activity growth in Wales remained close to its record high.
Lloyds Bank also suggested that firms continued to create jobs during this three-month period.
Some facts and figures
Its headline index measuring overall business activity across the English regions was 60 in December. This was well above the figure of 50 that separates growth from contraction. Meanwhile, the last financial quarter of the year saw the strongest private sector activity growth since the series began in 2001.
The south-west experienced the highest level of growth, with an index of 62.4. It was followed closely by the West Midlands, which registered a figure of 61.7. Meanwhile, London’s index was 60.3, while the south-east’s was 60.1.
Yorkshire and the Humber experienced the weakest expansion of all the English regions with a figure of 55.8.
Meanwhile, the business activity index for Wales increased from 57.2 in November to 58.4 in December.
In terms of recruitment, firms in the south-west of England led the way. Its employment index of 58.7 was the highest in the survey’s history. This region was followed by the London and the south-east at 57.4 and 56.7 respectively. In Wales, the figure was 51.4.
Strong activity
Commenting on the findings, Tim Hinton from Lloyds Banking Group said: “As we move into 2014 businesses in England and Wales are showing strong activity and new business growth across all regions. London and the South East showed some signs of slowing momentum from recent record highs, but other areas outside the capital, such as the south-west and West Midlands, are making increasingly strong contributions to the impressive growth picture for the UK as a whole.
“There was also more positive news on the jobs front in December, showing that businesses are increasingly hopeful that the recovery in the UK economy will be sustained over the year ahead. This gives businesses a strong foundation to build upon in 2014, to start to implement growth and expansion plans.”
Avoiding unnecessary problems
By taking advantage of the array of document templates now available, businesses can avoid a whole series of potential problems. For example, when taking on new members of staff, firmscan access recruitment documents, employment contracts and more. Meanwhile, when entering into deals with other organisations, they can make the most of purchase order templates and so on.
Knowing they have access to these resources can boost managers’ peace of mind. The documents can also help to ensure that the long term success of enterprises is not compromised.
About the Author – Anna Longdin is a freelance blogger who has written widely on the subject of UK business for a variety of top websites, including Simply-Docs.