BUSINESSES in Kirklees have shown a “disappointing” lack of confidence, said the latest quarterly survey by the Huddersfield-based Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.
The survey, which polled member firms across Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield, showed that domestic orders were flat while overseas sales and orders presented a mixed picture.
While export sales and orders rallied slightly during the second quarter, the broadly improving figures had failed to gain “any real momentum”.
For the second consecutive quarter, the survey reported an improvement in employment and expectations for new jobs, reversing the trend seen in 2011.
But it said companies keen to make capital investments to expand their businesses faced “unacceptable” delays in implementing steps by the Government to improve business access to finance through credit-easing and “Funding for Lending”.
Steven Leigh, head of police for the Lockwood-based chamber, said: “This survey more or less confirms what we already know – that business confidence is low and is likely to remain that way until there is a proper resolution to the eurozone crisis, that the economy continues to rumble along at low levels of activity and that external factors such as exchange rates and inflation continue to add uncertainty into the mix.
“This is disappointing considering the bullish nature of our first quarter survey which appeared to contradict the official figures from the Office for National Statistics and indicated that businesses had started the new year with a more optimistic outlook.
“However, there are certain results elsewhere in this second quarter survey which defy the overall economic situation.
“For example, export orders and sales have shown modest improvements, employment has continued its upward trend and concerns over price pressures have reduced considerably. The growth in employment is unexpected good news.
“We certainly hope that momentum gained in the first half of this year will be maintained.”
Mr Leigh said access to finance remained a key impediment “as the list of failed or abandoned Government schemes to ease the availability of credit grew longer”.
He said: “The latest initiative announced by the Chancellor is ‘Funding for Lending’.
“Our enthusiasm for this is tempered with caution in view of past disappointments. As ever, the devil will be in the detail.
“The Government must ensure that this scheme is made to work, because amongst all the complex factors which are affecting our economic recovery probably the most significant single issue is the availability of affordable finance – and until this problem is sorted out it will continue to be a major inhibitor to growth in the UK economy.”
