The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) released its industrial order books balance on Thursday. The CBI industrial order books balance dropped to -5% in May from +1% in April, missing expectations for a rise to +3%.

The decline was driven by lower exports. The export order book balance rose slightly to -7% in May from -11% in April.

The balance for output volumes for the next three months fell to +15% in May from +16% in April.

The CBI director of economics Rain Newton-Smith said that manufacturers in the U.K. expect the growth to continue and export orders to improve.

"Some of this could be down to an improvement in the Eurozone's momentum - but the strengthening pound is still proving quite a challenge," he noted.