Worries still stalk small businesses

JOB creation remains muted as businesses are cautious about the strength of the recovery and concerned about a double-dip recession, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) survey.

The poll of 1,304 FSB members found that 10 per cent of firms expect to decrease employment over the next three months as business confidence in future prospects and revenue growth weakened over the July to September period.

While the economy continues on its slow path of recovery, business confidence over the third quarter continued to decline further, in Northern Ireland and Wales and for firms in the service sector. The net balance of businesses expecting an improvement in prospects over the next three months has been on a steady decline since start of the year, from 16 per cent at the end of quarter one, to 4 per cent in quarter two and now just 0.5 per cent.

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