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Britain’s CEOs are brimming with optimism

Britain’s CEOs are brimming with optimism finds the quarterly Vistage Mid-Market Confidence Index

Dealing with full order books is already a pleasant problem for many…

Britain’s mid-market businesses are brimming with optimism and are reporting better economic conditions, sales forecasts, and profitability expectations finds the new Vistage Mid-Market Confidence Index (published today - 16 October 2013). This good news is being matched with action, job creation, and investment in fixed assets being reported by Britain’s mid-market firms.

The research is based on responses by 470 CEOs, MDs and owners of largely mid-market businesses conducted in September 2013 by Vistage (www.vistage.co.uk) the world’s leading CEO organisation (see notes below for full details on Vistage, the research methodology and detailed findings) .

Key findings from the Vistage Mid-Market Confidence Index include (national sample results below – London results, which are similar, on attached Excel):

· 70% report improved economic conditions (and a similar proportion expect this to continue over the next year) - compared to about a quarter at the start of the year.

· The recovery in fortunes for mid-market businesses is broadly-based across the whole country - with similar buoyant findings across all UK regions (nearly three quarters of the sample are from businesses outside of London & the South-East).

· The majority of mid-market businesses are now very much “in hiring mode” with 61% expecting that their number of employees will increase over the next year (about a third think it will stay the same, about 7% expect a decrease): 30% reported plans to recruit “steadily throughout the year”; about 30% reported that they would start increasing employment in the first half of 2014 and 35% reported no plans to increase their number of employees.

· Because of improved confidence, 51% are increasing their expenditure on capital investments (43% are maintaining existing levels, and only 6% report a planned reduction).

· A huge 80% expect that their business’s revenue will increase over the next year (and 67% expect improved profitability). Only a tiny 2% expect that sales revenue will fall over the coming year (and only 6% expect a fall in profitability).

Steve Gilroy, CEO of Vistage, said: “These figures show the recent blossoming of confidence amongst Britain’s mid-market businesses, and are matched by my own conversations with dozens of CEOs and business owners in recent weeks at Vistage events around the UK. Mid-market business owners are reporting that they are investing again; they are recruiting; and many already have buoyant order books that they are now tooling up to deliver.

“Britain’s mid-market businesses are key to the country’s prosperity, a skilled workforce and a balanced economy. Vistage’s latest research shows them to be very confident about the recovery and their prospects, leading them to invest strongly in capital assets and creating jobs. It is a very dramatic turn-around since the start of the year, and they are very much looking to 2014 being a good year.

“Oddly, despite their importance to the UK economy, these businesses are virtually ignored by policy-makers and commentators. The recent political party conferences were a case in point - lots of rhetoric about start-ups, small businesses and footloose multinationals, but nothing about helping our all-important mid-market businesses.”

About Vistage:

Vistage is the world’s leading organisation for CEOs, and provides “peer-to-peer” advisory boards (ie business owners advising fellow business owners) for the MDs, CEOs and owners of Britain’s mid-market businesses. It has 800 members throughout the UK and 17,000 members worldwide. Its UK members in total employ 100,000 people (on average 125 each) and produce annual revenues of nearly £9 billion.

About the Vistage Mid-Market Confidence Index:

The Vistage Mid-Market Confidence Index is based on a quarterly survey of Vistage’s 800 members across the UK (the latest research was conducted in September 2013 and was personally completed by 459 CEOs, MDs and business owners). The Q1 figures are based on 386 completed responses.

The survey is completed by Vistage members (all business owners, CEOs or managing directors) at their monthly meetings - so, unlike online and phone surveys, there is a very high accuracy and reliability since completion of the task cannot be passed to another person for completion!

Vistage Mid-Market Confidence Index - responses to questions (sample: 470 CEOs, MDs and owners - largely from mid-market businesses)

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Steve Gilroy .