THE number of Scottish companies reporting growth in turnover has reached levels not seen since 2007, according to the latest Bank of Scotland Business Monitor.
The research, published today and which includes responses from more than 400 businesses of varying sizes, suggests the Scottish economy is continuing to perform at pre-recession levels.
The positive net balance -the percentage responding up minus those responding down - of firms which said they had a turnover increase in the three month period to the end of August was 30 per cent. That was up from the 28 per cent in the previous quarterly period and at the highest level in more than seven years.
However the confidence on continuing that trend of turnover growth dipped sharply with the net balance at 21 per cent for the six months to the end of February, down from the 36 per cent recorded in the previous quarter.
But Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, said this was the seventh successive Business Monitor which had a positive net balance for turnover expectations which was the most optimistic sequence of results since 2007.
He said: "The recovery continued in spring this year and is now extending through summer into autumn. Turnover trends are showing the best results since spring 2007 - over seven years ago. Expectations for the rest of the year remain elevated at levels comparable to 2007."
In the production sector the overall net balance for turnover growth was at 35 per cent, up from 25 per cent in the previous quarter and ahead of the 24 per cent recorded in the same quarter one year ago.
The service sector saw its net balance for turnover at 27 per cent, which was a slight fall from the 29 per cent posted in the previous quarter but still ahead of the 22 per cent from 2013.
Total business volumes showed a net balance of 31 per cent, up from 27 per cent quarter-on-quarter although export activity fell back from 14 per cent to 13 per cent.
The Business Monitor, which has been running for almost 17 years, said the net balance for the expectation of growing exports was at the second highest in its history at 32 per cent.
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