Credit, collections & insolvency news
Business confidence among finance chiefs has reached a two-year low with Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) expecting to make cost cutting measures in 2025 according to research by Deloitte. The data shows that business optimism fell to a two-year low in the fourth quarter with 26% of CFOs reporting that they feel more pessimistic about the…
Read more
Business confidence in the UK has fell to its lowest level at the end of 2024, dropping two points to 39%, according to the latest Lloyds Business Barometer. Despite the fall, 55% of businesses expressed optimism about the broader economy, with nearly two-thirds anticipating stronger output. However, 19% of respondents plan to reduce their workforce,…
Read more
New research from SME lender ThinCats shows significant confidence in growth but an even split for those believing the Government is creating the right environment. The research which was conducted after the Chancellor’s Budget among more than 2000 UK SMEs shows that 81% of businesses are confident that their business would grow next year. Confidence…
Read more
UK business confidence has reached its lowest point in nearly two years, according to the latest Business Trends Report by BDO. The BDO optimism index fell by 5.81 points to 93.49 in November, marking the steepest month-on-month decline since 2021. Firms are grappling with rising costs, reduced customer confidence, and falling orders, leading to a…
Read more
Economic uncertainty is on the rise for the UK’s 5.6 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) following the Autumn Budget, according to iwoca’s Q3 2024 SME Expert Index. The percentage of brokers reporting pessimism among their SME clients about the future has more than doubled, rising from 15% last quarter to 34%. Meanwhile, only one…
Read more
The latest Lloyds Business Barometer found that confidence fell in November, with the index dipping three points to 41%. Considerably above the long-term average of 29%, the change followed a period of sustained positivity from businesses, as confidence reached the highest level reported since 2015 during May, July and August this year. The Business Barometer,…
Read more
Business confidence in the UK has fallen to a four-month low, with Lloyds Bank’s Business Barometer seeing a three-point drop to 44% in October. It remains above the survey’s long-term average of 29%, an indication that confidence is still high from a historical standpoint, although the latest reading reaffirms a slight loss of optimism since…
Read more
Business confidence fell for the first time in a year as tax fears hit a joint record high ahead of the Autumn Budget according to sentiment tracking by ICAEW. The ICAEW’s Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) dropped to 14.4 on the index in Q3, the first decline in 12 months and down on last quarter’s reading…
Read more
Business confidence rose slightly in September as companies pinned their hopes on further interest rate cuts this year, despite a weakening labour market, stubborn inflation and uncertainty around the new Labour Government’s first Autumn Budget, according to the latest Business Trends report from business advisory and accountancy firm, BDO. The BDO Optimism Index rose to…
Read more
British business confidence experienced a slight decline in September, falling by 3 percentage points to +47%, its lowest for three months according to the latest survey from Lloyds Bank. Confidence dipped to a three-month low in September. Business confidence remained higher than the long-term average of 29%. The dip followed a period of sustained positivity…
Read more
The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy continued to fall in September to -38, from -12 in August 2024. This is the lowest result that the Index has registered since December 2022 (-58). Business leader confidence in their own organisations also fell from to +23…
Read more
The latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer showed that business confidence remained at 50% in August. Although there was no increase to the overall confidence figure, the result highlighted the continued positivity amongst businesses, with confidence still at the highest level reported since November 2015. This continued confidence was displayed in the economic optimism metric, which…
Read more
The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, fell back to -12 in August, following a three-year high of +7 in July 2024. Business leader confidence in their own organisations also fell from +36 in July to +23 in August. This reduction in confidence is also…
Read more