Mid-year reset

The first half of 2025 has passed us by and it is now time to kick off the second half.
Will 2025 be like a rugby game – the legendary game of two halves, or will the second half deliver more of the same?
I guess some good adjectives to describe the first half might include:
•Bland.
• Average.
• Flat.
But many might add:
• Some promising signs.
• Grass shoots.
• Beginnings.
How you feel might depend a bit on where your business is located, how you marketed it and how you have looked to diversify. There are certainly some sectors of the economy seeing some good signs of pickup. Our sister title DEMM Engineering & Manufacturing recently published a report showing that SMEs in manufacturing had seen their strongest quarter since 2016 in the first quarter of 2025, especially in the Food & Beverage and Building & Construction sectors. Many have emptied their warehouses and will now have to up their ordering, working more just in time. Interest rates also continue to fall, which helps consumers and businesses. Offsetting that, the unemployment rate hit 5.1 percent in May – the highest it has been for a while, which constrains retail spending (including car servicing), and the USA’s oscillating tariffs are affecting international trade.
Overall, our feeling is that the second half will be more positive, but growth will be restrained by some of the negative factors such as unemployment and tariff concerns.