Business confidence at a high after Brexit vote

Business confidence in Britain is at a high after the Brexit vote, with 37 per cent of UK companies expecting their business prospects to improve, according to a survey from Lloyds.

The survey showed that businesses feel confident about the UK’s economy, with 47 per cent saying that they expect the economy to improve and 34 per cent being positive about the direction in which the country is heading. Just 13 per cent of businesses had a negative view.

Improvements

According to Hann-Ju Ho at Lloyds, significant improvements in both business prospects and economic optimism have driven overall confidence to reach its highest level since April.

The research comes after economic data released by the Office for National Statistics earlier this month showed that the economy expanded by 0.5 per cent in the three months after the EU referendum, despite predictions that there would be an economic crunch.

Separate research from Lloyds showed that housebuilders are also optimistic about growth after Brexit, with builders increasing their five-year growth forecasts from 25 per cent to 28 per cent.

The research, which surveyed 100 companies in the sector, also revealed the core challenges for builders of houses, with a third citing the uncertainty surrounding the referendum as the main challenge, followed by a skills shortage, the planning system and a rise in costs of raw materials.

Capacity

Stewart Baseley, from the Home Builders Federation, commented: “The industry is pushing the skills agenda hard. If we are to build more high quality homes we simply have to increase industry capacity. We are looking at how we build our individual sites more quickly; and the measures Government could introduce to allow SME builders to play their part in delivering more homes.”