CBI: services firms still feel pinch but are rallying

Services firms are still seeing declining workloads but there is light at the end of the tunnel for the UK's dominant sector, according to the Confederation of British Industry.

Its quarterly survey showed a 25 per cent balance of firms seeing lower work volumes in the three months to February, but the decline is well below the 41 per cent who warned of tumbling orders in the quarter to November, when Europe's debt crisis blew up.

Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economic adviser, said there were "signs that conditions may be levelling out". He said: "Business confidence remains fragile, and will continue to be so given the uncertainty in the eurozone... However, there are some signs that sentiment is stabilising."