Gloom over UK’s economic prospects hits South West firms’ confidence levels
Business confidence has fallen back dramatically in the South West – usually one of the UK’s most upbeat regions – as firms’ optimism in their own trading prospects takes a tumble.
Confidence in the UK economy also fell sharply last month – going down by 15 percentage points to 15%.
Companies in the South West reported lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down 24 points at 30%.
When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, down 15 points to 15%, this gives a headline confidence reading of 23%, against 42% in February.
The downbeat picture has emerged from the latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer, which was conducted head of last week’s Spring Statement.
The South West is traditionally one of the country’s most optimistic regions. In January South West firms appeared to shrug off suggestions that UK economic growth was stalling by recording a 13-point jump in confidence.
The West Midlands and London were the joint most-confident of any UK nation or region in March (both 62%), followed by the North West (59%).
Looking ahead to the next six months, South West businesses identified their top target areas for growth as evolving their offering, for example by introducing new products or services (42%), introducing new technology, such as AI and automation (35%) and investing in their team, for example through training (33%).
Amanda Dorel, regional director for the South West at Lloyds, said: “Despite this month’s fall in confidence, local firms are still setting out plans for future growth.
“We’ll continue to support their ambitions with our targeted, on-the-ground support – helping make those moves that are essential to their strategies, whether that’s investing in new products, technology or their team.”
The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly and which has been running since 2002, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide. This data was gathered between the 3 – 17 March, ahead of the Spring Statement.
