With optimism about the UK economy having risen dramatically in the last year, four out of five owner-managers believe their business will be better off, or remain the same, in the next 12 months.
According to the Bank of Scotland business banking's fourth quarterly UK-wide small business economic confidence survey, the confidence of the country's owner-managers has taken a "quantum leap" with two out of five owner-managers intending to invest more while over a third plan to recruit in the next year.
Interesting patterns are also reported within industry sectors, most notably in manufacturing and engineering with businesses in that sector registering a net improvement of 35 per cent in their outlook since July. Leisure and tourism is also showing signs of growing confidence with a 14 per cent net improvement.
