South-east firms expect improvement in sales for 2012 despite job losses

HALF of businesses in the south-east expect an improvement in sales next year despite a recent raft of major job blows.

The findings of the latest South East Business Con-fidence Study show that although more businesses recorded a fall than an increase in customer activity in the past six months, just 17% expect a further decline in 2012.

However, businesses rem-ain unhappy with the “value for money” they get for paying commercial rates to local authorities and with the Government’s performance on banking and the public finances.

Businesses in the sectors hit hardest in recent years, such as financial services and the retail/wholesale and hotel/restaurant trades, are among the most positive for the coming year, the study found.

A majority of businesspeople surveyed expect that 2011 will turn out to have been a better year than 2010 from a sales perspective, with half of those reporting an expected 10% or greater increase.

This finding is the highlight of the eighth in a series of twice-yearly surveys conducted in the south-east region by Kilkenny-based market research firm Market Dynamics. A total of 349 businesses participated.

Market Dynamics managing director John Gilsenan said that after “seemingly never-ending gloom” about the business environment, there is now a more positive outlook coming from some unexpected sectors.

“Even the construction sector is more positive,” he said, with 74% of firms in the building trade expecting this year to show trade has improved or remained static in 2011.

The most positive sectors this year are agriculture, manufacturing and financial services, according to the study, while the transport/distribution and telecoms sectors are among the most negative.

The employment outlook is similar to that found by the last survey in May survey, with a net fall in jobs this year — 15% of businesses are employing more and 25% employing fewer than at the end of 2010.