Britain's factories report rise in production for March

Surprise monthly increase comes despite sector experiencing its weakest quarter in a year

Britain's factories increased production unexpectedly last month despite the sector experiencing its weakest quarter in a year, with signs the growth spurt enjoyed towards the end of 2017 has fizzled out.

Shaking off concerns that heavy snowfall from the "beast from the east" would trigger a slowdown, the UK manufacturing sector maintained a steady pace of growth in March.

Productivity is an economic measure of the efficiency of a workforce. It typically measures the level of output per hour of work, or per worker.