The Q3’21 Business Trends Quarterly survey showed 8 out of 14 confidence indicators yielding declining results, decreasing by five from the previous quarter.

• BREXIT Uncertainty dropped by a further one percent to 37%, marking the fourth quarter in a row that this indicator has decreased. Business Confidence decreased this quarter, nearly halving and dropping from 49% to 26%. This comes with the Economic Uncertainty indicator levelling off at 43%, the first quarter since Q3’20 where it has not decreased significantly.
• Business Expectations dropped from 48% in Q2 to 33% this quarter, decreasing by 15% and returning to similar levels as at the beginning of the year. The Business Environment continued to rise, going from 29% to 34%, while Profitability Expectations decreased by 10%. The continued recovery of these trends since their initial lows in Q1’2020 cannot be overstated.
• The Current Employment confidence indictor increased by 1%, while Future Employment remained steady at 35%.
• Current Sales have remained fixed at 14%, while Sales Expectations have begun to decrease, dropping from 54% to 41%.
• Current Investment fell by 4% this quarter, while Future Investment grew by another 7%.
• Current Exports fell by 1% and remains the only negative overall confidence indicator this quarter. Export Expectations also increased by another 2%.
• Economic uncertainty concerns remain high, dropping only slightly from 44% to 43%, but remaining below initial Q1 2020 levels. Brexit concerns remains a significant concern at 37% but continues to drop, if only slightly.
• Read the full report below or download here.