The UK’s service sector broke a three-month losing streak last month, data from an influential survey has suggested.
The S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI survey showed a reading of 50.9 in November, up from 49.5 in October.
As well as being higher than the month before, the figure was also ahead of the 50.5 that economists had expected, according to a consensus figure supplied by Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Any score above 50 indicates that the sector is growing.
Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “UK service providers moved back into expansion mode during November as stabilising demand conditions helped to lift business activity from its recent malaise.
“Although only marginal, the upturn in service sector output was the fastest since July and slightly stronger than the earlier ‘flash’ estimate for November.”
But service companies are still seeing significant cost rises, largely because of increases in staff wages.
But strong exports to the US and elsewhere helped the sector. These included sales to European customers, despite the frictions…
