Germany and France are experiencing an economic resurgence, driving the eurozone to grow at its fastest pace in almost six years, while UK companies appear to have lost some pace.

Strong demand pushed up business output across all of the major eurozone economies, according to IHS Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI).

The composite index, covering all private industrial sectors, rose to 56 for February, the highest level in 70 months.

Any score of above 50 indicates the economy is expanding and this relatively high number is consistent with first-quarter GDP growth of 0.6pc.