The launch this week of the latest ICAEW Business Confidence Monitorâ„¢ (BCM) show that business confidence in the UK has dropped to its lowest point on record since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. However, the pace of decline in confidence slowed compared to recent surveys. Construction companies were hit hardest by financial challenges.
The results are based on interviews with our members during the period between 17 October and 16 December 2022. The full report is available on Economic Insight | Economy | Technical | ICAEW Â which also include regional and sector breakdowns.
Below are the key findings across the UK.
BCM KEY FINDINGS
- Confidence has again fallen sharply to a very low level by past standards, but it may have bottomed out, possibly as a result of less anxiety over economic policy, and indications of inflationary pressures easing a little. Among sectors, Construction, Property, Retail and Manufacturing are the least confident.
- However, domestic sales growth has stabilised after a period of recovery. Export sales growth is stronger than a year ago, helped by a weaker sterling. Both are expected to continue growing.
- Input prices and selling prices continue to rise sharply, but expectations for the year ahead have softened. However, salary growth continues to accelerate, as expected.
- While labour market challenges have eased, financial challenges have risen and a marked slowdown in investment growth is anticipated.
- Access to capital is a prominent issue for Property and Construction companies; both sectors face severe difficulties with bank charges. Input price issues are worst for Retail and Construction companies, while IT companies face strong market competition, which seems to be impacting their expectations for selling price increases over the coming year.
All regions and types of companies show broadly similar trends. Although UK-listed companies are a little less confident than non-UK listed and those.
You can read the full news release from the ICAEW on their website here.
