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Despite a sense of inevitable doom and gloom that followed the EU referendum decision, the latest OMB Barometer reveals that the vote to take Britain out of the EU has had little impact on UK business sentiment.
More than half of business owners and small businesses (51 per cent) expect revenue to increase in the next 12 months, with only 15 per cent disagreeing with this.
In line with the latest rises in some economic indicators, they are also confident in the UK economy at large, with 45 per cent believing the UK economy is in a good shape, compared to only 28 per cent who do not.
The Brexit vote has also had little impact on decision making. Only 23 per cent of small businesses are uncertain when it comes to making business decisions despite reports of uncertainty following the Brexit decision - in fact, half are certain when it comes to decision making.
Little change
The UK’s business owners and small businesses believe very little will change in terms of access to the single market and recruitment policy. Just over a third of these businesses expect to lose access to the single EU market, whereas nearly two-thirds do not.
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As the UK Government prepares for negotiations with Brussels and on the back of a drive to forge trade agreements with other nations, the Barometer does, however, show that business owners and small businesses remain sceptical of the UK’s plan to independently forge its own trade agreements with other markets (e.g. China, India, the US and Australia).
Despite the marked confidence amongst the UK’s business owners and small businesses, on average just over half of these businesses believe that the UK’s plan to independently forge its own trade agreements with other markets will not help boost activity for them in five key areas: sales, export, commercial opportunities, customer base and talent pool.
Nick Fahy, Chief Executive of Bank of Cyprus UK said: “Despite the general post-Brexit blues, the UK’s business owners and small businesses remain optimistic about their prospects, which is very encouraging.
"In the weeks immediately following the EU referendum vote, the UK economy contracted due to uncertainty, but this is not the case for the nation’s vital bedrock of businesses - Britain’s independent high-street retailers, family businesses and shopkeepers.
“It’s important that these businesses do not get left behind as we negotiate with the EU and try to achieve the very best deal. To do so would be short-changing not only the country’s enterprising small businesses, but also the UK economy.” ?
Some further data points from the report:
- 53 per cent of businesses believe that the UK’s plan to independently forge its own trade agreements with other markets will not help boost activity in sales;
- 58 per cent of businesses believe that the UK’s plan to independently forge its own trade agreements with other markets will not help boost activity in exports;
- 53 per cent of businesses believe that the UK’s plan to independently forge its own trade agreements with other markets will not help boost activity in commercial opportunities;
- 54 per cent of businesses believe that the UK’s plan to independently forge its own trade agreements with other markets will not help boost their customer base;
- 59 per cent of businesses believe that the UK’s plan to independently forge its own trade agreements with other markets will not help boost their talent pool.
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Susie Hughes © Shout99 2016
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