18 bdo thames valley – business barometer
A street-level view of business sentiment in the Thames Valley ...
... helping to inform decisions on growth, investment and employment in the region
'Over the last six months the indicators have been mixed and we are now seeing early signs of barriers to growth appearing.'
Accountants and business consultants BDO LLP, in conjunction with marketing specialists C8 Consulting, have published the results of the Spring 2015 Thames Valley Business Barometer. Taken from a survey of the region’s business community, this twice-yearly report provides a snapshot of business sentiment across the Thames Valley and has created a picture of emerging trends across the region.
Momentum of business confidence consolidates
The Barometer has recorded that business confidence in the region is still high with 62% of those surveyed stating that confidence had improved over the previous 6 months and 27% stating that it had remained the same. This is on a par with what we are seeing nationally. However, the level has dropped slightly since December 2014 when we reported 70% confidence levels, and also since Spring 2014, when confidence levels were at 90%, the highest we have seen since we started the Barometer at the beginning of 2012. This pattern of spike and decline might be expected as we come out of recession, while the General Election could also have impacted results as this survey took place during April and early May.
Simon Brooker, partner and head of BDO in the Thames Valley
Over 70% of businesses say turnover has increased
Despite the slight fall in confidence, performance figures appear positive. Over 70% of respondents stated that their business pipeline or order book had increased, and over 70% of respondents said that their turnover had increased. 80% of respondents expected it to increase in the following six months (the same figure as in Autumn 2014).
Plans to increase headcount
Plans to expand headcount have fluctuated over the three-year period since we started the Barometer, rising from 30% at the start of 2012 to 65% in June 2014 and then dropping to 50% last autumn. Our latest Barometer shows that 64% of all respondents stated that they have plans to increase their headcount in the next six months.
This is promising for the region and correlates with the national picture. However, businesses may find that they are restricted when it comes to recruitment, with over half of businesses surveyed telling us that they had been having more difficulty finding the right people over the past 12 months. Respondents gave a number of reasons for this with the main ones being a shortage of people with the right skills and increased competition, not only within the region but also from London.
www.businessmag.co.uk
Recruitment plans
Availability of finance remains positive
Access to finance has seen a slight decrease since last autumn but remains positive. 69% of respondents feel there has been no change in the availability of finance (versus 74% in autumn 2014) while a quarter of respondents believe that it has in fact become easier to access (versus 20% in autumn 2014).
In the latest Barometer we looked at how businesses in the region intend to recruit their talent. We asked respondents several questions which gave us an insight into a variety of key areas including whether or not companies offer either school leaver schemes or apprenticeships.
More than half of respondents (55%) stated that they don’t currently offer either of these and only 5% said that they had plans to introduce this in the future. 53% told us that less than a quarter of their workforce are graduates.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JULY/AUGUST 2015
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