Britain’s factories increased their output at the fastest pace in more than four years as surging orders gave manufacturers a boost and pushed them to ramp up hiring again.

Export demand is particularly strong as the weak pound makes British goods competitive abroad, and order books have reached such a scale that backlogs grew in November for the first time in six months.

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by IHS Markit, rose to 58.2 last month, the highest level since August 2013.

Any score of above 50 indicates growth, so this move up from 56.6 in October shows an acceleration in the manufacturing sector.