UK corporate profitability reached a 16-year high in 2014 despite easing back in the fourth quarter.
But the Office for National Statistics figures showed the oil and gas industry hit an 18-year low in the final quarter of last year.
Measured as “net rates of return”, corporate profitability for all non-financial UK firms improved to a high of 11.9% in 2014.
This was up from 11.2% in both 2013 and 2012 and a low of just 9.7% in 2009, according to analysis by economics firm IHS.
Companies benefited from extended healthy UK growth and were significantly helped by reduced input costs boosting their margins, IHS said.
Manufacturing companies had it best – their profitability actually increased to 12%, up from 10.3% between July and September. However this was a drop on the second-quarter performance of 13.4%.
But Continental Shelf (UKCS) companies’ net rate of return was 10.4%, the lowest rate since the series began in 1997. Unions hit out at the oil and gas industry and government for failing to address the impact of the oil price crash.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “The coalition government has actively mismanaged the offshore industry. The Budget 2015 tax cuts for the industry were a blunt, pre-election tool to appease shareholders and do nothing to protect the long-term viability of the oil and gas industry in the North Sea or the skilled workers the industry and the country really cannot afford to lose.”
RMT national secretary Steve Todd added: “These figures confirm the next government should support RMT’s call for protections for the offshore workforce which would prevent a premature decline in exploration and production activity offshore.”
UK goods exports fell to their lowest in four-and-a-half years in February as overseas manufacturing sales slumped, helping the overall trade deficit widen to a five-month high. The monthly trade data came days after a report by Labour calling for a “revolution in export culture” to help UK firms compete better in the global marketplace.
Recommended for you
