Cautiously Optimistic!

For time immemorial, spring has always been the catalyst for new activity – whether that be ‘spring cleaning’ the house, tidying up the garden, or as in my case, to fire up the hibernating Harley and start annoying the neighbours again!

Spring also has an association with the over-quoted phrase, ‘the green shoots of recovery.’ The new season does however see BVAA members declaring their previous year’s turnover, so that we can calculate their membership fees for the coming year. From this data, we usually get a pretty good picture of how the industry has been doing.

We have yet to receive all replies, but even so a familiar story is emerging... one of the usual ups and downs. Some markets have obviously been more seriously affected by the recession, with significant falls. But to date, more than twice as many members have reported increases in turnover than decreases. Most of the decreases are not especially large or alarming given the wider economic climate. One caveat however; ‘Profitability’ is not reported. Even so, our conclusion is that the British Valve & Actuator Industry has once again shown its resilience in challenging times, and we appear to have good reason to be cautiously optimistic!

Published: 31st March 2010