Although both activity and new business continued to increase solidly, rates of expansion ticked down from those seen in August. This led companies to reduce the rate at which they took on extra staff. Meanwhile, business confidence was the lowest in over five years.

The headline seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index posted 52.5 in September, down fractionally from 52.7 in August but with growth broadly in line with those seen in the previous two months. That said, the average reading for the third quarter of 2018 was the lowest since Q4 2013.