Members report sales up 7% over the same period of 2024 and Orders were up 9%. BtoB remained just positive at 1.01:1.
Headline performances: –
- Revenues up 7% yoy and orders up 9% yoy
- B to B remained positive at 1.01:1.
- Key Markets: –
- Broadcast down 4%.
- Mil/Aero up 2%
- Medical up 15%
- T&M down 12% (T&M sales have now been falling for over a year)
- Mass Transport up 66% (This is linked to key rolling stock and infrastructure projects)
- Distribution continued to perform well with an increase of 16% yoy but there was a slight drop over Q1 of 2025
Overview.
At the meeting held on the 18th of November members discussed a range of topics and market trends.
The overall view for all members was that 2025 has been a particularly challenging year with the first 6 months proving difficult. There have been quite a variation of performance depending on markets with some members enjoying an overall double-digit growth whereas others saw a very flat performance and, in some cases, a small decline.
The Mil/Aero market was highlighted as being very sluggish but recently the enquiry level of activity has increased, as it has in a number of other markets such as Medical and Data Comms (Data Centres).
Although as a sales channel Distribution has performed well, this has again been due to specific market dynamics, as above, but hopefully it is a barometer for the coming months.
The levels of uncertainty in the market, as highlighted by reports coming out of the IOD, S&P UK Manufacturing PMI, and the ONS all of which are pessimistic and indicate a high degree of uncertainty resulting in: –
- Headcount expectations are falling.
- Investment intentions being scaled back
- Revenue expectations continuing to decline
- Wage expectations are continuing to rise
With the upcoming government budget on the 26th of November this has made it exceedingly difficult for members to plan for 2026, the uncertainty around labour legislation, minim wage levels, potential tax increases etc makes future planning particularly challenging. Members also felt that there really is not a clear industrial strategy from the UK government.
Despite all these challenges the overall feeling was that the UK connector would continue to grow in 2026 with the expectation that any growth will be in the low single digit area (3-5%).
Members also discussed topics regarding: –
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- Country of Origin
- REACH & RoHS impacts
- PFAS impact.
- Cyber Policies
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ITSA as a trade association representing members in the UK is committed to working with, and lobbying, both UK Authorities and the EU on these and other topics and we continue to work with external agencies on a lot of these matters.
Foot Note
- ITSA were delighted to be asked to be judges again at the 2025 Instrumentation and Electronics awards where two of our members, Smiths Interconnect and Fischer Connectors both won awards in their various categories. Congratulations to both these members.
External UK Economy reports used.
- The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, fell to -74 in September 2025 from -61 August.
- This exceeds the recent record low of -72 in July 2025 and marks the lowest reading of the Index since its introduction in July 2016.
- Business leaders’ confidence in their own organization’s also fell to -7 in September 2025, from +1 in August. This matches the level recorded in November 2024 (-7).
- This negative trend is also reflected in the underlying indicators:
- Headcount expectations fell to -13, from -4.
- Investment intentions fell to -20, from -8.
- Revenue expectations fell to 0, from +12.
- Wage expectations jumped to +64, from +42.
- Export expectations rose to +6, from +5.
- S&P Global UK Manufacturing. Manufacturing PMI at 46.2 in September (five-month low) Further job losses reported that new export business suffers further steep decline.
- The operating environment faced by UK manufacturers remained challenging in September, as a quiet domestic market and lower intakes of new export business stymied production volumes and total new order intakes.
- Manufacturing production fell for the eleventh successive month in September, with the rate of contraction being the fastest since March. The effects of the downturn were widespread, with the consumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors all seeing output fall at solid rates. Manufacturers reported that production had been scaled back in response to weaker intakes for new business, with demand from both domestic and export markets weak.
