Pessimism clouds industry says Bibby survey
April 30th 2010 Almost half (49 per cent) of owners and managers in the transport and storage sector feel that trading conditions are extremely tough, despite output in the industry reaching the highest level since September 2008, according to the latest Bibby Financial Services Business Factors Index.
Almost half of firms feel that their business is facing difficulties compared to 32 per cent in the previous survey, which was released in January and covered Q4 2009.
Over a third (34 per cent), feel that business is worse than it was six months ago, which was the highest percentage of all the sectors surveyed.
Optimism has declined in the last three months, with one in ten (11 per cent) of business owners stating they are hopeful for the future, compared to one in four (25 per cent) in the previous Index.
Furthermore, over half (57 per cent) expect the UK economy will not show real signs of recovery for at least a year.
Ray Fairfoull of Logic Trading, a transport and logistics family run company, said: “The transport sector has experienced a similar pattern for the last two years, constantly playing catch up due to spiralling fuel prices. This is a difficult position to maintain, as you find yourself implementing an ever-changing fuel surcharge. However, I have noticed some improvements over the last three months and, although we had a tough January, February was a good month.
“If positive signs continue to emerge I hope to see recovery towards the end of 2010 but, as ever, fuel prices will dictate the level of improvement experienced by the transport sector. Looking to the near future I feel that the biggest factor to speed up economic recovery will be a change in Government, which will provide a much needed confidence boost.”
The Business Factors Index, compiled by Bibby Financial Services, tracks movements in small business turnover since July 2007. The trends derived from this data have been collated alongside the results of a series of interviews conducted with more than 300 business owners from a range of businesses across the UK. More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
