UK businesses reliant on domestic sales are much less confident than exporters, a key survey shows.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, publishing its latest survey, said that exporters had been seeing stronger sales growth than domestically focused companies and expected this trend to continue.
ICAEW’s main reading for companies’ confidence has improved to +7, its highest level in two years, from -1 in the previous quarter.
The overall increase in confidence was widespread, ICAEW noted, led by information technology and communications, and manufacturing.
The survey signals companies’ profits rose 4% over the last 12 months, with similar growth expected in the year ahead.
ICAEW said: “Since the EU referendum vote in June 2016, evidence of a gap in confidence has emerged between companies that export and those that do not. This quarter it stands at +12.4 for those that export and +1.7 for those businesses that rely on domestic sales. Companies that export have been seeing stronger sales growth of 5.2%.”
Michael Izza, ICAEW chief executive, observed “confidence is very fragile and the upward trend could be derailed by any setback in the economic outlook”.
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