Business confidence across the North has tumbled 20 points as the challenging economic environment took its toll on companies and their fears for future trade prospects, a new survey shows.
The latest Business Barometer from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking – carried out between October 3 to 17 – showed confidence fell to 10%, with companies reporting lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down 14 points at 27%. Their optimism in the economy was also down 28 points to -9%, leading to the headline confidence reading of 10%.
The Business Barometer questions 1,200 businesses each month and provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide. It comes a week after a survey of SMEs by North East software giant Sage also revealed waning confidence across the region, with only half of firms are confident in their own success.
