We've had three years of turbulence now, and it looks like 2023 will not get any more stable. Fortunately, businesses have become accustomed to such times, and I believe our industry shows remarkable resilience to such disruption. The AEMT's membership grew by 3% last year, and we saw the same levels of interest in training as in 2019.

While the energy crisis creates challenges for business overheads, it also raises opportunities for our sector to help industry reduce energy and material wastage. By supplying newer, more efficient machinery we can help lower energy bills – or by renewing existing machinery, we can maintain and, in some cases, increase its efficiency. The £1m annual investment allowance (AIA), which was made permanent by Liz Truss's government, is now in place until March 2023, so there is little time left for businesses to take advantage of this policy.

It's generally accepted that the UK and many other countries will face a recession this year. History has shown that businesses that plan for growth during these times and continue to invest fare better than those that don't.

The rising demand for electric motors from the EV market will ensure that the supply of new rotating electrical machinery will be high. Coupled with the continued disruption of Covid in China, this means that purchasing new equipment will be both challenging and expensive. Fortunately, AEMT members are in the position to help businesses with these investments, with access to large stocks of machinery and the ability to repair machinery around the clock.

In terms of the AEMT, we are looking forward to an exciting year in which we want to grow the membership and improve our training offering via a new eLearning platform to be launched this Spring.