Small businesses are now more optimistic about their immediate sales prospects, according to the latest Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain by The Open University Business School in association with Barclays Bank and ACCA. While 49% of small firms reported that sales were down over the year, most notably in manufacturing and construction, fewer firms now expect to cut employment, and 62% of small firms have not changed employment levels over this past year.
Almost half of respondents, especially those employing more than five people, now aim to expand over the next three years. Within this group, 34% have seen an increase in sales over the past year showing resistance against the generally poor performance of the economy as a whole.
The biggest improvements are for hotels and restaurants (up from -20% to +27%) and retail (up from -27% to +23%). However while construction does not appear to be suffering as much as in 1991/92, it is the sector with the greatest net cuts as it saw a 30% cut in employment, 20% cut in investment and a 20% drop in selling prices.
Read more: http://www3.open.ac.uk/media/fullstory.aspx?id=16485
www.ukba.co.uk
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