The strain of sluggish consumer spending and rising wages hit profits and dented the optimism of the UK’s services sector in November, according to the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI’s latest quarterly service sector survey showed that business and professional services firms, which include accountancy, legal and marketing firms, expect sales to fall during the coming months after a small increase in the last three. But at consumer services companies, which include hotels, bars, restaurants, travel firms and leisure businesses, sales volumes grew modestly, with expectations for faster growth in the next three months. Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s chief economist, said that while optimism had declined, employment growth remained strong, with service sector firms looking to hire in the coming months. “Many firms still plan to invest in IT, but uncertainty over future demand could act as a restraint,” she said.

Source: The Guardian November 28, 2016 00:00 UTC