More than half of businesses in Yorkshire are reluctant to invest in new capital equipment, even though using old machinery was costing them orders, a new survey reveals.
Findings by asset finance provider Lombard showed that more than half of regional businesses questioned were not prepared to invest in the current economic climate.
A quarter of firms were using equipment that needed replacing, which most revealed was leading to lost orders and pushing up maintenance costs.
Nationally, the research shows that 75 per cent of UK companies that had increased capital expenditure had maintained or increased profits. Lombard says the UK lags behind countries such as Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and Mexico when it comes to investing in specialised production machinery.
The survey shows that a third of UK companies are turning down orders rather than investing in new equipment. Awareness of asset finance, which provides tailored funding for buying new equipment without using company reserves, was low.
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