A quarter of NI construction firms are still operating in survival mode, according to the latest State of Trade Survey.

The survey, from the Construction Employers' Federation (CEF) and Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC), also revealed only around a quarter of the companies are operating at full capacity, while a fifth are operating at half capacity or less.

The survey says that fewer than a third (32%) of CEF members surveyed anticipated growth in 2016, only slightly up on the 29% planning for growth in the final quarter of 2014.

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CEF Managing Director John Armstrong said: "This is another mixed bag of survey data. Only a third of members anticipate growth, with more than a quarter expecting the economic environment to get worse.

"In addition, during 2015 the proportion of firms working at about full capacity increased but so did the proportion working at half capacity or even less.

"Our survey findings reflect the official NISRA data which suggest that across most of the sector employment growth was concentrated at the start of 2015, with growth broadly flat thereafter. Although output also grew through to mid-2015, it also declined in the third quarter according to the NISRA data.

"This is an industry that generates high wages, significant levels of gross value added and extensive downstream investment and job creation, but it relies on developer confidence and public sector investment.

"It's worrying that we are seeing no real indication of either profitable growth or sustainable job creation."

(CD/LM)