Sussex Enterprise’s Quarterly Economic Survey was released last week. 291 local businesses responded to the survey regarding their performance in the second quarter of 2010 (April to June). The questions covered a range of subjects including confidence, profitability, cashflow and employment. Business confidence in Sussex has remained stable after a set-back earlier this year, according to the latest figures.
The highlights from the QES include:
• 51% of Sussex firms believe that their turnover will improve over the next 12 months, which is
the same as last quarter’s (Q1 2010) figures.
• 67% of businesses say their workforce will remain the same in the next three months (64% in Q1 2010). 24% expect to expand their workforce and 9% expect it to decrease.
• Export sales have remained constant over the last quarter, according to 42% of Sussex businesses (36% in Q1 2010). 42% saying export sales have increased and 16% report a decrease in exports.
• Export orders have also stabilized with 51% saying they are constant compared with 33% in Q1 2010. 36% say export orders have risen and 13% say they have decreased.
• 61% say their investment plans in equipment such as machinery has remained unchanged (53% in Q1 2010). 22% say their plans have improved and 18% say they have decreased.
• The majority of businesses in Sussex (71%) are operating below capacity, again a similar proportion to last quarter (69%).
Mark Froud, Chief Executive at Sussex Enterprise commented on the results of the survey, he said, “We saw a slow but gradual increased in confidence among Sussex businesses last year with a dip in the first quarter 2010. However, the latest figures for Q2 show that it has remained steady and stable with little change compared to the first quarter in 2010. Business confidence has clearly held its ground and responded well to a change of Government and an emergency Budget. It is still early days, however, and over the next few quarters we will see the reaction of the economy to the measures introduced in the emergency Budget and the sizeable public spending cuts.”
The results are sent to Sussex MPs, Chief Executive Officers at our Councils and other key decision makers.
For a copy of the full results, click here.
