Latest figures from the Electronic Components Supply Network (ecsn) reflect a generally positive sentiment in the manufacturing sector of the UK economy following the Brexit referendum. The overall ecsn member results for August were firmly in line with the Markit/ CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI results, which showed a 53.3 rating, the largest month on month change increase for 25 years.
In the Semiconductors, Passives and Electro-mechs reporting sectors, the consolidated Bookings and Billings performance of ecsn’s AFDEC members in August 2016 was better than expected as UK manufacturing generally weakens in August each year as a result of organisational summer holidays.
Overall Bookings declined by 11% in August 2016 compared to the previous month but showed an encouraging 6% uptick compared to the same month 2015.
Surprisingly the Book-to-Bill ratio in August‘16 declined by 16 points to 0.93:1, but as Adam Fletcher, ECSN chairan explains, “Whilst there are occasional monthly dips the polynomial trend line suggests a positive B2B ratio is likely to continue.”
The overall Stock Turn remained ‘flat’ at 2.2 turns, with total inventory only marginally declining so manufacturer authorised distributors have good inventory levels to support this upturn in customer demand. The Sales by Month “three month moving average” for all electronic components suggests slightly increasing growth into September’16, much in-line with historical trends.
Concluding his report Fletcher said ecsn afdec members remain very positive about their prospects in the UK / Ireland electronic components market: “Our forecast is for a slight improvement in Billings growth quarter on the same quarter 2015 towards the end of the year. This appears challenging but I’m optimistic that it will be achieved,” Fletcher concluded.
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