British Industrial Output Expands Most In Almost 4 Years

British industrial production logged its fastest growth in almost four years in April largely driven by pharmaceutical sector.

Industrial output advanced by more-than-expected 2 percent in April from March, when it grew 0.3 percent, data published by the Office for National Statistics revealed Wednesday.

This was the biggest monthly expansion since July 2012. Economists had forecast a marginal 0.1 percent increase.

Growth in manufacturing output accelerated to 2.3 percent from 0.1 percent in the previous month, while it was expected to remain flat. This was also the fastest increase since July 2012.

The main factor behind the faster growth was an 8.6 percent increase in production of pharmaceutical products, which was the largest gain since February 2014.

Despite the upbeat tone of April's industrial production figures, it is far too soon to proclaim that the sector is out of the woods, or shrugging off Brexit uncertainty, Paul Hollingsworth, a U.K. economist at Capital Economics, said.

He said any weakness caused by referendum uncertainty increases the scope for a rebound after June (assuming a vote to "remain"!) but there are other factors which are likely to keep a lid on growth.

On a yearly basis, industrial production rebounded 1.6 percent following a 0.2 percent fall in March. A similar pace of faster growth was last seen in October. Output was forecast to drop 0.3 percent.

Similarly, manufacturing output gained 0.8 percent, in contrast to March's 1.9 percent decline and a 1.3 percent fall forecast by economists. This was the first increase in production since May 2015.

In three months to April, industrial production increased 0.7 percent and manufacturing climbed 0.1 percent from the previous three months.