37% of establishments report increases in sales over the last year and approximately 55% forecast increases ion the future. 42% of London’s manufacturers and wholesalers are involved in export, which is higher than the national average of 36%. 42% of establishments source from overseas, but only 5% who do not currently source from overseas expect to do so in the future. 20% of the textile manufactures serve a technical textile market, which is lower than the national average (29%).

Only one tenth of organisations report an increase in the number of employees over the last year. 75% of organisations report static staff numbers. 75% of organisations forecast static staff levels in the future.

Fewer than one tenth of London organisations in the sector arrange or fund training and only 1% are linked to a formal qualification. The low incidence of training is a result of the belief that staff are proficient and training is not needed. Job specific and induction training are most commonly provided by organisations. However, there is a reliance on in-house training.

The highest incidence of organisations owned or part-owned by a member of an ethnic minority group is in London (41%). In terms of sector industries, the highest is in servicing (61%) and the lowest (25%) in textiles manufacturing.

A high number of internal skills gaps are reported in textiles manufacturing. In the future, customer handling, machine operator and general management skills will need improving.

The sector anticipates major difficulties in replacing staff as they retire in the next few years. Managers and operative staff are expected to be the most difficult to replace when staff retire. However, textiles and apparel manufacturing are also likely to have replacement problems. Increased replacement demand for general and functional managers is expected in the future.

Future challenges facing the sector in the future include:

• attracting new customers
• improving quality of service to customers
• value of pound

Source: Regional report – London 2004