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When: 17-19 June 2014
Where: ExCeL, London
Now in its second biannual edition the Review also showed that FIA members received nearly 15% more invitations to tender than non-members, who were also surveyed.
Nearly four in five – 78% – of those polled report a rise in enquiries on the previous year.
One respondent described the fire sector as “very buoyant as confidence in the market returns.”
Squeeze on margins
But if recovery in the wider economy is seemingly mirrored in the fire sector, then the industry can also empathise with Ed Milliband’s ‘squeezed middle’.
Many respondents complained of a squeeze on margins, with negligible rises in tender prices outstripped by soaring supplier costs. “We are all suffering the effects of the online pricing war regarding new extinguishers and doing more work for less gain,” admitted one respondent.
A majority (54%) of respondents received payment for goods and services within 31 to 60 days, while only 12% collected money in fewer than 30 days. Just 3% had to wait more than 90 days, one respondent complaining that “slow payment seems the order of the day!”
Three fifths (60%) of respondents said they’d received a greater share of their orders from the private sector, with only 10% getting the majority of their work through the public sector.
Increased training
Encouragingly for anyone concerned about competence and professionalism in the industry, nearly two-thirds (63%) had plans to increase staff training with only 2% expecting to reduce it. The remaining 35% plan to maintain training at similar levels.
“The sector seems to be more professional and training and accreditations are playing more of a role,” one of those surveyed noted approvingly.
As orders increased, 38% increased recruitment in the previous six months, with only 4% cutting their workforce.
However, the industry could arguably do more to attract a new generation into the sector with only 21% hiring apprentices.
“It’s encouraging to see that the fire sector is now beginning to experience the growth that others have already reported, as both enquiry levels and tender invitations have increased over the last six months,” says FIA CEO Graham Ellicott.
“In contrast, tender prices and labour recruitment have generally stayed at the same level as in the previous survey.
“Increased supplier prices mean that gross profit margins have fallen in some cases. However, a greater call for companies to be third-party certificated and increased training bodes well for the sector and for fire safety in general in the UK.
“It is also particularly gratifying to see that In the last six months FIA member companies received nearly 15% more invitations to tender for business than non-members did, thus in part proving the value of a trade association.”
Read the results in full here. If you would like to take part in the next survey – regardless of whether or not you are an FIA member – email FIA -team@ FIA .uk.com.
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