Andy Hall, Head of Corporate Banking, Barclays, Central Scotland comments on the latest PMI figures:

“Today’s figures provide further evidence that manufacturers were quickly off the blocks in 2017 with strong growth in output and order books looking healthy, driven largely by domestic demand.  Although the growing prospect of inflationary pressure looms large and the impact of Brexit continues to cause much uncertainty, it is encouraging to see that the manufacturing sector is just getting on with business as usual.”