Business confidence recovering but ‘dark clouds’ on horizon – survey

The Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) quarterly survey found sentiment was improving but small firms were still pessimistic.

The FSB said small firms had been left feeling ‘short-changed’ (Alamy/PA)

Business confidence is being restored after plummeting at the end of last year, but “dark clouds” are on the horizon as costs remain high, according to a new report.

Sentiment improved among small business owners and sole traders over the first three months of the year, a welcome step for the wider industry, the Federation of Small Businesses (FBS) found in its survey.

Nevertheless, the FSB’s confidence measure scored minus 2.8 points in the first quarter of the year, which means more firms felt pessimistic than optimistic.