Scottish Engineering say quarterly review indicates “stabilising pandemic position”

SCOTTISH Engineering say they are taking stock of a “stabilising pandemic position” and are now looking to their next three months after their first review of 2022.

The trade body said that the positive demand they “cautiously tracked” through 2021 appears to be strengthening in many cases.

The company says that their order intake, output, exports, and staffing have remained positive for four quarters in a row, with optimism up more than half in the last three months.

Despite this, warnings were issued of continuing pressure on a range of costs, reflected in the “stubbornly high impact on export and UK pricing”.

Looking to the next three months, the review’s forecasts are upbeat, with discussions focused on a change in engineered infrastructure.

Scottish Engineering say that they still have a lot to do to ensure that the correct investment in skills, capabilities, and infrastructure can be delivered through joined-up thinking across all levels of industry, government, and education at the pace required.

Scottish Engineering’s Chief Executive Paul Sheerin added: “This further improving outlook is a fair and welcome reward for the resilience shown and difficult decisions taken by companies to ensure that business was sustained and protected during the pandemic.

“It’s especially encouraging to see a strong return to future forward-thinking, with the intent shown to step up training investment probably my pick of the good news given its importance to our ability to manufacture our own future.”