As we come to the end of the year, it seems only fitting to compare the situation the industry found itself in 12 months ago with the difficulties it is facing today.

The industry’s prospects for 2009 are a good deal bleaker than they were this time last year. As you can see from our front page story this week, banks and credit insurers are tightening their belts and are reluctant to invest fully in an industry that is notoriously volatile, even at the best of times. Combine that with sterling’s record low against the euro, and we have a pretty bleak situation on our hands. Suppliers who have been seeking alternative markets to the UK in the past few months now need even less persuasion to do so, and that situation can only deteriorate in the new year. Insiders are predicting that a raft of businesses may struggle and drop out of the trade in the next 12 months, and that would be a very sad state of affairs.

However, something we can all take heart from over the festive period is that people still need to eat, credit crunch or no credit crunch, and we certainly have the health agenda on our side - so from that point of view at least, we are in the right business.

On behalf of the entire team at FPJ, I would like to wish all our readers a merry Christmas and happy new year. Thanks for your support in 2008 and we look forward to working with you all in 2009.