The latest NatWest PMI® data indicated a further improvement in growth momentum across the Welsh private sector compared to last month.

Business activity and new orders both rose, and employment continued to expand.

 

However, business confidence regarding future output fell to the lowest level seen in a year. This was partly due to the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit. 

 

Welsh private sector companies reported a sharp increase in operating expenses. Selling prices increased in order to take account of this. The rate of charge inflation was sharp overall, despite easing for the second month in a row.

 

The Wales Business Activity Index registered 56.0 in August, up from 55.6 in the previous month (where anything above 50 is a sign of growth).

Sector data indicated that output expanded across both the manufacturing and service sectors, and the overall upturn in activity within Wales was stronger than the UK average. 

 

New business expanded at a faster pace in August, and the rate of growth accelerated to a six-month record.

 

The increase in Wales was the second-sharpest recorded of all monitored UK regions (behind only Yorkshire).

 

There was further increase in staff numbers at private sector firms during August, and the rate of payroll expansion was the joint-quickest since last October and outstripped the UK average. Both manufacturers and service providers reported greater employment.

 

After eight months of decline, work backlog broadly stabilised in August. 

 

Looking ahead, confidence for performance in the next year fell to the lowest level since last August. Threats cited included challenging market conditions and Brexit uncertainty.

 

 

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It’s great to see that Welsh businesses are continuing to expand their payroll and hire new staff even in uncertain times. 

 

An influx of new staff is the perfect opportunity to analyse your HR processes – are they as efficient as they could be? Small and micro business can particularly benefit from investing in good software when they begin to expand. Time and Attendance Midlands can help out here. 

 

Our time and attendance management system can offer several modules and functions which would be useful to an HR department. 

 

The Self Service Module (SSM) allows the employee to access HR information held about them on the Tensor.NET database. Information such as addresses, emergency contact entries and bank account numbers can be displayed and changed. Changes to personal information must be authorised by the manager before the system is updated.

 

The Screen Designer can be used to create an unlimited number of extra input forms and database tables to store the new information. The new dialogue screens will be merged seamlessly into existing forms.

 

Reports Wizard guides users through each stage of the report design process, providing control over which sets of data are reported upon, the order and contents of report columns, the report selection criteria and the report ordering requirements. Items such as the font and page properties can also be customised.

 

All user activity within the system is recorded for audit purposes, with time & date transactions of information both before and after changes. Logs also maintain records of system events for fault-finding and troubleshooting.