#business-confidence

#business-confidence

One in eight UK small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders are planning to relocate themselves, their companies, or both overseas, citing rising taxes and mounting regulatory costs, according to a new report by Rathbones. The research, released just weeks before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her Autumn Budget, paints a bleak picture of business confidence across the UK's private sector. If realised, the potential exodus could involve around 680,000 firms out of the UK's 5.67 million SMEs

Analysis from Grant Thornton UK finds that labour productivity of UK mid-size businesses, when measured as average annual revenue per employee, has surpassed that of larger and smaller companies, and the UK average, for the past six years. Compiled in advance of the Autumn Budget 2025, the research, which analyses labour productivity levels of UK businesses over the past eleven years, finds that, in 2024, the productivity gap by company size continued to widen, with mid-size businesses (MSBs) pulling further ahead than other segments.

Mr Donaldson, CEO, The Maxol Group, called on Stormont and Westminster politicians to shift gears from strategies to 'full throttle economic delivery' and build on the UK-EU Common Understanding on trade and emissions cooperation, US trade deals, north-south trade successes and improved rail links between Belfast and Dublin. He said: "These are serious times that demand serious solutions... Business should be the engine of growth, and I know that the firms in this room are ready to play their part - but confidence hinges on tangible results that people can feel in their daily lives."

The UK is emerging as one of the world's most attractive destinations for technology businesses, outpacing rivals in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, according to new research from Barclays. The bank's latest Business Prosperity Index found that 62 per cent of UK tech leaders see their home market as a better place to grow and scale a business than mainland Europe, with 61 per cent preferring the UK to Asia-Pacific and 60 per cent favouring it over the US.

Business confidence plunged this month across the UK's services sector as mounting cost pressures and weak demand hit profits and undermined the outlook for the rest of the year. The CBI's latest service sector poll found that a majority of companies were gloomy about their prospects and discounted the acceleration in activity that usually follows the return to work after the summer break.

Just over half (53%) of leaders say revenue increased year-on-year over the second quarter-nearly double the 28% who say it dropped. However, increases are largely the result of higher menu prices and new openings, and the CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker has indicated broadly flat spending on a like-for-like basis in the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, higher costs-including higher minimum pay levels and National Insurance contributions from April, as well as sustained inflation in food and drink-have hurt the margins of many operators.

Overall, London businesses reflect stronger optimism about their operating conditions, with an increase in hiring and a focus on technology-led growth in the coming months.

Despite the rate cut, UK businesses face strong hurdles; the US-UK trade deal is a bright spot amidst ongoing uncertainties.

The unemployment rate in Ontario fluctuated between 7.3% and 7.6% in early 2024, indicative of a fragile economy facing significant external pressures.