There was a six-point fall in business confidence in London during the final month of 2021 to 57%, according to a business barometer recently reported on by the LondonlovesBusiness website – although this still left the capital as one of the UK’s most business-confident regions.
The data was gathered from 1,200 firms over the period from 26th November to 10th December, so does not fully reflect the impact the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is likely to have had on business confidence since then.
News of the UK’s first two cases of Omicron only broke on 27th November, and it took until the week beginning 6th December for nations to start announcing they were putting restrictions back in place to tackle its spread.
What did companies across the capital and beyond say about their business confidence?
As stated in the LondonlovesBusiness report, companies in London showed the same level of confidence in their own business prospects as they had during the previous month, at 63%. However, their optimism in the economy as a whole fell by 10 points to 53%, thereby equating to an overall confidence reading of 57%.
A net balance of 53% of firms in this part of the UK are expected to bolster their staff levels over the year to come, which was a 12-point improvement on the last month’s reading.
As for business confidence across the wider UK, the overall reading for December – 40% – was the same as that recorded for November. Although this meant that confidence during the month stayed above the long-term average of 28%, during the second week of sampling that saw the emergence of the Omicron variant, confidence dropped to 32%.
Firms were still positive about their future trading prospects, however, even as the variant opened up a new stage in the battle against COVID-19 – their confidence in this regard actually went up by four points on a month-by-month basis, to 43%. There was also a three-point rise in the net balance of businesses intending to create new jobs, to 33%. And all-round confidence in the economy was sturdy overall during December, the 38% reading being just three points shy of that for November.
A positive overall confidence reading was recorded for every nation and region of the UK in the latest barometer, and four of them showed a higher reading than the previous month. The North East saw a 13-point increase in overall confidence to 58%, which was enough to make it the UK’s most confident region. Moreover, the North West, Yorkshire and Humber, and East of England regions also recorded climbing scores in this regard compared to the last month’s readings.
We can help you take stress and inefficiency out of your bookkeeping processes
Given the rising challenge to business confidence posed by Omicron, many questions remain about how firms will navigate the tricky and unpredictable weeks and months ahead. If there is one thing your business can almost certainly do to bolster its own resilience and efficiency, however, it is to give careful thought to how to optimise your bookkeeping.
For outsourced accounting and payroll assistance from a UK-based firm that you can trust, please do not hesitate to contact the Britebooks team. Our certified QuickBooks and Xero advisors can guide and help you with the implementation of more efficient processes for these crucial aspects of your business’s operations – whatever your circumstances and growth goals may be for 2022.
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