Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
A bounce in services sector activity pushed UK business output to its highest level in a year, according to the latest Business Trends report from accountancy and advisory firm BDO. BDO’s Output Index, which measures activity across key sectors in the UK economy, increased to 98.80 in February, up from 97.67 the previous month. This…
Read more
The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, jumped to -48 in January 2026, from -66 in December 2025. Business leader confidence in their own organisations also jumped, to +14 in January from -4 in December. The underlying indicators, particularly revenue and export expectations, also saw…
Read more
Business confidence weakened this month over concerns about the global economic outlook, according to the latest Lloyds’ business barometer. The survey reported a net balance of 44% in January, down from 47 per cent in December, driven by a 14-point drop in businesses’ net economic optimism. However, businesses’ expectations for their own activity rose by…
Read more
Business confidence sank into negative double-digit territory for the first time in three years amid unprecedented fears over the tax burden and weaker activity, according to the ICAEW research. Sentiment in Q4 2025 stood at -11.1 on ICAEW’s Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) index, its lowest point since Q4 2022, having dropped from -7.3 in the…
Read more
Confidence among small business owners has dropped to its lowest level since 2020, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The FSB’s quarterly small business index fell by 13 points, with a confidence score of minus 71. Taxation emerged as the primary concern for 64% of 1,200 respondents, marking a record high. The FSB…
Read more
The IoD (Institute of Directors) Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, ticked up to -66 in December 2025 from the (pre-Budget) November level of -73. Once business leaders had a little more time to reflect on the impact of last year’s Budget on confidence in their…
Read more
Deloitte’s latest survey of UK Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) shows that 59% of the UK’s largest businesses have become more optimistic over the past 12 months on the potential for AI to boost the performance of their own organisation – up from 39% when last measured in the third quarter of 2024. CFOs overwhelmingly (96%)…
Read more
Business confidence in the UK has fallen, according to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), with only 46% (compared with 48% in Q3) of companies expecting increased sales this year and 24% saying they expect to see a decline in turnover. The survey saw 63% of firms polled cite tax rises as their primary concern,…
Read more
The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, remained at a near record low of -73 in November in the run-up to the Budget – unchanged from October. In our snap poll directly after the Budget, the index rose one point to -72. Business leader confidence…
Read more
The latest IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, remained at historic low levels of -73 in October 2025, little changed from -74 in September, which was the lowest reading of the Index on record. Business leader’ confidence in their own organisations crept up to ±0,…
Read more
Business confidence sank to its lowest level in three years as record high tax worries ravaged firms ahead of next month’s Budget, according to research by ICAEW’s Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) quarterly index. Sentiment in Q3 stood at -7.3, down from -4.2 in the previous quarter. Confidence is now at its weakest level since Q4…
Read more
The Institute of Directors’ (IoD) latest Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, fell to -74 in September 2025 from -61 in August. This exceeds the recent record low of -72 in July 2025 and marks the lowest reading of the Index since its introduction in July 2016.…
Read more
Optimism among businesses has declined sharply over the last month according to latest analysis by Lloyds Bank. After four months of elevated confidence, September saw a return to levels seen in the first part of the year. The latest Lloyds Business Barometer saw a reduction of 12 points in September, with confidence remaining above the…
Read more