Tide beginning to turn as South East businesses expect improved outlook in 2012  

After three years, the tide seems to be turning slightly for businesses in the South East region with around half expecting an improvement in sales in 2012 and just 17% expecting a further fall. Even more positive is the fact that businesses in those sectors that were hit hardest, such as financial services initially and then retail / wholesale and hotels / restaurants / tourism, are among the most positive for the coming year, according to the findings of the latest South East Business Confidence Study. Though more businesses recorded a fall in customer activity in the past six months than an increase, nonetheless, a majority expect that 2011 will turn out to have been a better year than 2010 from a sales perspective. Indeed, half of those who have seen a sales increase 2011 report it as being 10% or greater. This is 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 in the region participated.

Commenting on the results, John Gilsenan, Managing Director of Market Dynamics, stated:

“after seemingly never-ending gloom about the business environment we can now see a more positive outlook which is coming from some unexpected sectors, such as financial services, hotels / restaurants / tourism and retail / wholesale. Even the construction sector is more positive. A very encouraging sign is the accuracy of businesses in their predictions. In previous years, business forecasts made in the May survey have been found to have been overly-ambitious by the time of the November one. This time, however, businesses expectations for the year in this survey tally with predictions made in May. This is reassuring for businesses who can make plans in a more confident manner”

Download the full report click here SEBS Nov 2011_ Executive Summary