Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Despite a rise of 2.6 points, the East of England lags behind the rest of the country and has not seen a confidence rating above the national average since Q4 2005.

Pippa Bourne, regional manager for the ICAEW said, “There is a growing concern over more interest rate rises and a loss of confidence in the property market which has led to pessimism in the region. Despite this businesses are not deterred, they predict a resilient consumer, whose purchasing will boost sales volumes to 7.4 per cent in the next 12 months.”

Despite the gloomy outlook, businesses remain confident that both turnover and profits will rise. Turnover is predicted to rise from 5.4 per cent in the last twelve months to 6.6 per cent in the next year and profits to rise from 5 per cent last year to a predicted 6.6 per cent in the next twelve months.

According to Neil Laidler, interim vice president business services, Orange UK: “The forecast for increased profits in the next twelve months should translate into a greater level of capital expenditure growth over the coming four quarters.

“The East of England is predicted to see a 1.4 percentage point boost in regional capital investment growth, putting the East of England 0.9 per cent above the national average.”

The BCM is one of the largest and most comprehensive quarterly trackers of business confidence in the UK, based entirely on the opinions of typically 1,000 finance professionals. It has proven to be a good indicator of GDP performance.