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A new survey of general builders’ merchant branch managers, which measures expectations and confidence, has found that the upcoming budget announcement has been a big contributor to the uncertainty felt in the market for a while now. In total, 42% of merchants found economic policy had a significant impact on market confidence. Overall, merchants’ confidence in the market is poor. Only 21% of merchants are more confident in the market this year than they were last year – and

The first edition in a new series of ‘The Pulse’ surveys of merchant branch managers found their biggest problems in Q3 were squeezed margins, online competition and supplier price rises. Those same issues were seen as a problem for more than 1 in 2 merchants. The new survey will be published quarterly by MRA Building Market Reports, along with a set of forecasts for the UK builders’ merchants market. The survey also found that the majority of merchant branch managers expect