News

Times will get tougher before they get better. While analysts are divided on how hard we will hit the bottom, they are nevertheless unanimous in the view that we won't reach that point for a while. The credit crunch and its associated issues continue to damage the business foundations of the road transport industry's client base.

In the past few weeks, major housebuilders have announced huge job losses nationwide, while the Scottish housebuilding industry will have to make one-fifth of  its workforce redundant by the end of next year, according to one analyst. No significant recovery in housebuilding is expected until late 2009 and into 2010.

That's not to say it's all bleak in construction, for instance aggregate tipper operators may notice an increase in work off the back of increased spend on civil engineering, which is expected to grow by 8.7% this year and 7% in 2009, according to the Construction Products Association. Also, construction companies involved with government-funded schools and Olympics projects should also ride out the recession better than most - and therefore would be worthwhile clients to seduce.

Retail is hardly joyous at the moment - most high streets and shopping centres seem to be dead. So movement of high-ticket white and brown goods has fallen, but someone somewhere will note people will always need to eat and drink. However, as the crunch hits the family purse, analysts expect the cut-price chains, such as Aldi and Lidl will  benefit, while the big, established players will lose out.

Manufacturing doesn't seem to be hit that bad yet: data from the Office of National Statistics shows manufacturers charged 10% more for their products in June compared with the same month the year before, while 31% of firms said their orderbooks are 'above normal' in the CBI's June survey. Manufacturers with strong export business are weathering the storm better.

One wag has pointed to the one key growth sector during credit crunch: administrative receivers. Making the assumption that not all paperwork is emailed, being the preferred courier for BDO Stoy Hayward, Begbies Traynor and the like could be a nice little earner if you can handle the Schadenfreude.

What does it mean for you?

While controlling costs and cashflow remains paramount, many business survival experts suggest diversification - which is all well and fine if you already have a diverse client base, but if you're a niche oper-ator, now really isn't the time to attempt something completely different.

Perhaps the alternative is thinking about how much more you can do for your customers, what other services can you offer them?