Confidence low among small businesses

CONFIDENCE amongst Yorkshire's entrepreneurs is continuing to deteriorate, according to the latest results from Small Business Confidence Index by Bank of Scotland Business Banking.

The index, which measures small business optimism across five key economic measures, reveals a further fall in small business confidence of five points from 39 in November 2007 to 34.

The fourth quarterly fall in a row means that confidence levels amongst Yorkshire's entrepreneurs have fallen by more than 30% since April last year, leaving them at the foot of Britain's regional table.

Around three quarters of small business owners in Yorkshire now expect general economic conditions to worsen over the next twelve months – nearly double the number expressing a pessimistic outlook in April last year (38%).

Given the uncertainty surrounding current market conditions, two thirds (67%) of entrepreneurs think that it will become more difficult to run their business over the coming year.

Meanwhile, nearly six in ten (58%) of small business owners in Yorkshire are now expecting either flat or negative growth over the coming 12 months – one and a half times the number in April last year (37%).

The index provides an overall measure of confidence amongst Britain's SMEs by tracking the attitudes of 1,000 owners/senior executives of businesses with an annual turnover of up to £1m.

The Index collates opinion on five key issues: general economic conditions, customer demand, recruitment intentions, predicted turnover growth and anticipated ease of running a business. The index is based upon data from a survey carried out by The Opinion Research Business (ORB).