Confidence takes a knock in the region

Dec 18 2007 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

CONFIDENCE levels among the North-East’s entrepreneurs have taken a knock during the course of 2007.

The latest results from the Small Business Confidence Index by Bank of Scotland Business Banking reveal a fall in small business confidence of two points since April.

The index (which runs from 0 to 100 – where 0 is completely pessimistic and 100 is completely optimistic) shows that confidence among small businesses in North-East has fallen much less than the average eight-point fall in confidence across Britain.

A decline in the overall confidence indicator is reflected in key findings from the research. One-third (32%) of small business owners in the North-East believe that now is a bad time to be running a small business.

More than six in 10 (62%) small business owners expect general economic conditions to worsen over the next 12 months – nearly double the number (33%) expressing a pessimistic view back in April. Optimism varies more by location than sector.

Small businesses in Scotland are most optimistic about their future and the general economic climate with a score of 46 (down four points from April), while businesses in Yorkshire and the West Midlands end the year as the most pessimistic with a score of 39.