Small business managers confident of growth

Over four fifths of the UK's entrepreneurs believe their business will perform the same or better than last year.

Over four fifths of the UK's entrepreneurs believe their business will perform the same or better than last year.

Taken from Bank of Scotland's Business Banking, its latest quarterly survey for the economic confidence of small businesses, data shows that small businesses are less confident about their future prospects than they were in May.

Almost a fifth of respondents also expected their company to be in a poorer state in 2007, up from 13 per cent in May.

Planning for the year ahead, more than half of small businesses have projected a freeze on investment, a quarter are budgeting for an increased spend, while 17 per cent will be tightening the purse strings.

Kevin Gillett, head of Bank of Scotland Business Banking, said: "It is encouraging to see that confidence levels of small business owners remain high, although optimism appears to have dipped. Business owners' confidence in their own business performance remains much higher than the economy as a whole.

"Recruitment and continued investment figure strongly in the latest research, albeit in more cautious levels than we have seen previously," he added.