(Bloomberg) -- The worst is over for U.K. manufacturers after a torrid quarter, according to the latest survey from the Confederation of British Industry.
Indexes of expected orders and output over the next three months turned positive and sentiment recovered sharply, with optimists and pessimists now in roughly equal balance. However, manufacturers expect to continue cutting jobs and investment.
The figures provide further evidence that activity is picking up as the lockdown imposed in March to stop the spread of coronavirus is gradually eased. The manufacturing sector saw business contract in the latest three months, and firms were forced to run down inventories at a hefty pace to deal with supply disruptions, according to the CBI survey, which was carried out between June 25 and July 14.
Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics Thursday indicated that many of the over 9 million workers idled on government income support during the crisis are now returning to work. A sampling of firms in the first two weeks of July found 18% of staff are still furloughed, well below peak levels of around 30%.
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