42% of small firms less confident about future

CONFIDENCE levels among the small and medium enterprise (SME) community seem to be deteriorating, with 42% of respondents to the Small Firms Association’s (SFA) latest quarterly business barometer less confident about their own business prospects than they were just three months ago.

According to the latest edition of the survey, published today, 50% of those questioned said they would be decreasing in size, or closing down completely, in the next three months with 47% saying they would maintain their employment levels.

As much as 74% of SMEs surveyed said that they rate the overall business environment as either being poor or very poor.