Member Article

North West confidence at record high

Research by accountants Grant Thornton and ICAEW shows that businesses in the North West are continuing to feel confident as the economic improvement gains momentum.

The latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) has found that across the region, confidence has been on a general upward trend since Q3 2012 and now stands at +34.5, its highest reading on record. Despite this, confidence is below the UK national average of +37.2.

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Businesses in the North West have seen strengthening performance in recent quarters.

Growth in turnover, sales volumes and gross profits were reported at 3.9%, 3.2% and 3.4% respectively. Encouragingly, this trend is expected to continue over the next 12 months with turnover forecast to increase by 4.8%, sales volumes by 4.8% and gross profits by 5.5%.

Kevin Engel, partner at Grant Thornton in Manchester, said: “It’s particularly encouraging that profitability growth is on a steady upward path and that job creation in the private sector is also moving in the right direction. The survey shows that hiring intentions remain strong as the current growth rate is expected to continue through 2014.

“The export growth is an indicator of genuine confidence – we are seeing businesses prepared to think big and look to new markets, with a real focus on dynamic markets outside of western Europe. “

The stronger growth predicted for the year ahead is expected to be supported by an uptick in both exports and domestic sales.

Over the previous 12 months, businesses in the North West reported growth in exports and domestic sales of 2.7% and 2.9% respectively. In the next year, exports are anticipated to increase by 3.9% and domestic sales are forecast to rise by 4.1%.

Melanie Christie, ICAEW regional director for the North West, said: “As we have seen with the recent GDP figures and this quarter’s BCM, the recovery is accelerating.

“We need to continue to push to grow our exports, against a backdrop of a widening trade deficit, at the same time as ensuring that the momentum the UK economy has is maintained across all parts of the country. In the North West, demand growth coming from a variety of sources is an encouraging sign for the sustainability of the recovery.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .