Optimism among entrepreneurs in the South appears to be stabilising, according to the latest report on business sentiment.
Their views are shown in the latest findings of the Enterprise Index by accountancy and investment management group Smith & Williamson, which has its South Coast office in Southampton.
The quarterly Index, which has a benchmark of 100, measures entrepreneurial confidence. It is now just above 106, compared to nearly 108 in the previous quarter.
Chris Appleton, the senior partner at the 60-strong South Coast practice and the entrepreneurs specialist, pictured, said: “During this year the Index has been in the range between 105 – 109, with a closing reading of 106.2 in the third quarter. This implies that confidence has stabilised here in the South.”
He added: “Our report tests the temperature of job-creating entrepreneurs – it is always interesting to see how they feel on the issues that affect business.”
More than 70% of the Index’s respondents indicated that they anticipated that their export turnover would increase this year.
John Longworth, Director General of the British Chamber Of Commerce, says that despite a wealth of positive export figures being recorded recently, there is still more that the UK must do if it is to reach its full exporting potential.
He believes that “we need to transform the domestic mindset of those businesses by creating an environment that makes it worthwhile for them to export”.
Touching upon trade, more than 60% believe that the UK is better off inside the EU.
Chris Muktar, co-founder of WikiJobs, said that he believed that the UK is better off inside the EU because “countries outside of the EU face tougher trading conditions and while it’s true that the UK may be paying more than its fair share to the EU, this is a short-sighted view”.
He added that “you need to ask what the EU might look like in 50 years’ time and what the relationship of the UK to that might be”.
Mark Hindmarsh of Versatile Connections said: “The EU is the UK’s main trading partner worth more than £400bn a year, or 52% of the total trade in goods and services.
“Staying in the EU means the UK is more likely to be in position to win new trade deals as opposed to being an independent outside EU player.”
The contrary argument is that the UK and the EU will necessarily remain as key trading partners irrespective of the UK’s EU membership.
Half the respondents in the Index survey believe the emergence of the sharing economy, known as ‘collaborative consumption’, whereby participants share access to products or services, will have an adverse effect on their business.
Other findings:
· 56% felt a mandatory living wage (what you’d need to earn to cover basic living costs), rather than a national minimum wage, would adversely affect small businesses.
· 62% felt that mandatory quotas aren’t the best way to increase the number of women in boardrooms; enforced promotions would undermine the perceived competence of women in relation to future board roles.
The Index, now in its second year, fell as low as 90.1 in the second quarter of 2013 before rallying as the economic recovery gathered pace.
