The BMW factory in Regensburg. Germany achieved growth of 1.9 per cent last year and is moving ahead at its fastest rate for five years

Peter Atmore has no doubt about it. The sclerotic European economy is, at long last, picking up speed. And he should know. As sales and marketing director of Fracino, a Birmingham-based maker of commercial coffee-making appliances, Mr Atmore spends much of his time tramping the economies of the Continent, seeking new buyers for his gleaming cappuccino and espresso machines.

“There is definitely more confidence now,” he says of the coffee shop owners and restaurateurs who buy the machines, which range in price from £2,500 to £7,500. The pick-up, he says, began last April and has been sustained.

It’s not across the board. France and Spain remain weak but Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Austria are all showing strong growth in demand. Stripping out new markets,