3rd Sep 2025 03:59
(Alliance News) – Irish business activity rose only modestly in August as new business growth eased further and employment increased fractionally, S&P Global reported on Wednesday.
The AIB Ireland composite purchasing managers’ output index fell to 51.3 in August, down from 52.5 in July and signalling the weakest rate of expansion since June 2024.
Rates of expansion softened in both manufacturing and services, with the latter expanding at a slower overall pace for the fifth straight month.
New business rose at the slowest rate in the current 14-month upturn, with a near-stalling in manufacturing new orders offsetting a slightly sharper expansion in services.
Work-in-hand declined for the second time in three months. Employment rose only marginally as service providers shed staff.
Meanwhile, the AIB Ireland services PMI fell to 50.6 in August from 50.9 in July, with job shedding recorded in the sector for the first time since January.
More positively, new business rose at the fastest rate in three months and the year-ahead outlook improved.
David McNamara, AIB chief economist, said: “This marks the slowest pace of growth since January 2024, driven by marginal gains in output and new business, and a fall in employment. Overall, the rate of growth in the Irish services sector underperformed the Eurozone, US, and UK flash PMIs at 50.7, 55.4, and 53.6, respectively.”
The AIB Ireland services business activity index is a diffusion index calculated from a question that asks for changes in the volume of business activity compared with one month previously. The index is the sum of the percentage of "higher" responses and half the percentage of "unchanged" responses.
The AIB Ireland services PMI is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to a panel of around 400 service sector companies.
By Lachlan Colquhoun, Alliance News reporter
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