UK business investment rises in Q4
Provisional results from the UK's National Statistics Office suggest that the country's business investment rose 4.9% year-on-year in the final quarter of 2004 and 0.7% from the previous quarter. Capital spending in the distribution services industries contributed to the quarterly rise. This growth was offset slightly by declines in investment from manufacturing, construction and non-manufacturing public corporations. Private sector manufacturing investment slipped 0.1% in the final quarter. Total investment in the manufacturing and service sectors rose 3.6% and 6.3% year-on-year respectively, while investment in construction and other production fell 2.1%.