Survey predicts positive business outlook
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise lobby group, ISME, has predicted a positive outlook for the next 12 months in its second quarterly business trends survey published today.
The survey says that employment prospects remain strong, with 26% of small companies expecting to increase employment in the next year.
ISME says the high cost environment is the biggest threat to future development, competitiveness and growth.
Today's results confirm that SMEs continue to be more optimistic about business prospects than they have been for a number of years, with a considerable improvement in business confidence, employment prospects and investment, indicating that the business outlook remains positive.
The trend in business confidence continues to rise, with 42% of companies more optimistic about business prospects than 12 months ago, representing a net 9% increase on the previous quarter and a hugely significant 67% increase year on year, a marked turnaround in the last 12 months.
What is of concern however is that Manufacturing continues to significantly lag behind other sectors, with only a net 1% expecting to employ more in the next 12 months.
This is significantly down on the previous quarter when a net 16% of Manufacturers had anticipated creating new jobs.
Business costs continue to be problematic for SMEs, with increases of 10% recorded in rents, wages, raw materials and insurance. Other costs identified as causing difficulties included transport, electricity, postal costs and local rates.
Commenting on the results, Mark Fielding, ISME Chief Executive stated, "While overall the results are positive, from an SME perspective there is no doubt that the cost environment represents the biggest threat to the future development and growth of small business".
Fielding called for the immediate implementation of the Expert Group on Enterprise, proposed by the Enterprise Strategy Group, with their first task being to tackle the high cost environment for businesses in Ireland.
