1st Dec 2025 09:52
(Alliance News) - UK manufacturing returned to growth in November, a final purchasing managers' index reading from S&P Global confirmed on Monday.
The PMI rose to a 14-month high of 50.2 points in November, confirming the flash reading, from 49.7 in October. Climbing above the neutral 50-point mark separating growth from contraction, it indicates a return to growth for the UK's factories during November.
S&P noted that production volumes posted back-to-back monthly expansions for the first time since late 2024, but it said the increase was subdued and narrow by sector.
Further, November saw a stabilisation in new business after 13 months of contraction.
Manufacturing job losses were registered for the 13th month running in November, linked by survey respondents to cost savings, the non-replacement of leavers, redundancies and recruitment freezes. Businesses mentioned higher cost associated with hirings, such as increases to national minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions, and uncertainty in the lead up to the UK government budget that was announced last week on November 26.
Survey response from a panel of 650 manufacturers in the UK were collected between November 12 and 25.
S&P said: "Manufacturers experienced a boost from improved sales to the domestic market, while the rate of contraction in new export business eased to a 12-month low. Foreign demand nonetheless declined for the forty-sixth month in a row, with reports of lower intakes of new business from clients in the US, EU, China and Brazil."
Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: "The numbers are especially encouraging as this improvement occurred despite November seeing elevated levels of business uncertainty, and in some cases an element of gloom, ahead of the autumn budget.
"The lifting of this uncertainty caused by the long lead-in to the chancellor's budget announcement should hopefully provide a boost in December, but it will be interesting to see the extent to which business might react to the absence of any significant growth-promoting measures. After all, despite the improvement in the performance of the manufacturing sector, any growth is still worryingly weak.
"Rising competitive pressures and slower cost inflation meanwhile led to factory gate prices being cut for the first time in over two years. This combination of soft industrial performance and subsiding price pressures will add to the shift in policy debate away from inflation fears towards supporting economic growth."
Services and composite PMI readings will be released on Wednesday.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor
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