Market. Conditions. Review

Transcription

1 Market Conditions Review WAVE 2 APRIL 2014

2 FIRE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION Market Conditions Review Summary The fire sector is now beginning to experience the growth that others have already reported with more survey respondents reporting increases in invitations to tender and enquiries than they did in the last survey of October 201. While enquiries and tender invitations have increased over the last six months tender prices and labour recruitment have generally stayed at the level as in the previous survey while supplier prices continue to rise and thus gross profit margins are falling. During the time period it is encouraging to see that the level of training has increased as has the requirement for companies to be a member of a Third Party Certification scheme. In particular 8% of respondents reported an increase in enquiries with London and the Southeast being responsible for almost a third of them Workforce training is increasing with % of replies indicating an increase in comparison with the last survey 62% of replies report that tender prices have stayed the which is a large increase on the level reported in October 201 % of respondents indicated that there has been an increase in tenders requiring Third Party Certification while 2% reported no change concerning this requirement Supplier prices continue to rise overall with only 1% of replies indicating a decrease and % of respondents reporting no change Payment times remain similar to the last report with 4% of respondents indicating payment times of 1 to 60 days In the last six months FIA member companies received nearly 1% more invitations to tender than did non-members The FIA Market Conditions Survey is open to both FIA members and non-members and is carried out every six months. To take part contact us at fia-team@fia.uk.com.

3 14 Substantially 14 more Overall Same Substantially less 6 Have you received more enquiries in the last six months than in the previous half year? (%) 44 Slightly more 9 Slightly less 1 More from the Private Sector About the Have you had more enquiries from the Public or Private Sector? (%) 8 More from the Public Sector 4 Don t know Geographical Enquiries Scotland 6 1 Other 11Northwest 26 UK Wide 8 Southwest 2 London and Southeast

4 More from the Private Sector About the 60 0 More from the Public Sector Don t know 2 10 Have you had more orders from the Public or Private Sector? (%) No change Have you recruited skilled labour in the last six months or have you shed skilled labour in the last half year? (%) Recruited 8 skilled labour Shed skilled labour 10 4 No Yes Have you recruited apprentices in the last six months? (%)

5 Increase Keep the Decrease Have you increased or decreased the amount of training for your workforce in the last six months? (%) 4 8 Increase Keep the Decrease 40 Do you intend to increase the amount of training for your workforce in the next six months? (%) A lot more invitations 1 Slightly more invitations 44 8 No Change 29 Slightly less invitations 18 A lot less invitations Have you received more or less invitations to tender for work in the last six months when compared to the previous half year? (%)

6 Decreased substantially 2 8 Decreased slightly 16 4 Stayed the Increased slightly Have tender prices increased in the last six months when compared to the previous half year? (%) Slightly more Slightly less Have you seen more or less tenders in the last six months that require Third Party Certification when compared to the previous half year? (%) A lot more No change 2 A lot less 10 6 Increased 62 9 Stayed the 8 Decreased 1 Have suppliers prices in general increased, stayed the or decreased in the last six months when compared to the previous half year? (%)

7 Have suppliers delivery times in general increased, stayed the or decreased in the last six months when compared to the previous half year? (%) Increased Stayed the 8 82 Decreased 1 Are you generally receiving payment in (%) 0 days or less days days days or more 6

8 FIRE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION General Comments The following are some of the comments received from responding companies: There is generally a more positive feel in and out of the industry that has to result in increased business at some point soon! I have found that our local fire service are spreading their wings and are actively looking for work in the private sector, I have lost two contracts in this manner now. We are all suffering the effects of the online pricing war regarding new extinguishers and doing more work for less gain. Small, less professional outfits (we find) are pushing down prices in order to win any work, as a result work locally becomes devalued and hard to make reasonable margin on, very frustrating for more professional companies such as XXXXXXX the also applies to organisations such as XXXXXX who appear to buy installation contracts to fill their books and then lock in customers with years of poor service... Seems to be an increase in overall workload compared to previous year. Things seem to be moving slightly in the right direction, but trade remains difficult. Fair competition prevails, but still lots of cowboys out there. Slow payment seems the order of the day! The sector seems to be more professional and training and accreditations are playing more of a role. Customers are becoming more aware that prices are lower online and are changing buying habits. Very buoyant and increasing gradually as confidence in the market returns. It gets tougher competing with companies with no accreditations and internet companies importing less expensive equipment from Far East.