The Times has named manufacturing as the sector most capable of standing up to the current economic gloom.

The newspaper gave industry a vulnerability rating of 3/10, compared to 6/10 for retail and 9/10 for the troubled construction and property sector, saying that, though manufacturers were feeling the strain, no notable downturn in business had yet been seen. Indeed, the weak pound against the euro has even resulted in healthy export order levels.

“It would be naive to think there will be no effect but there is no sense of impending doom in our recent figures,” said the manufacturers’ organisation EEF.