Majority of North West businesses forecast growth for 2016

Businesses in the North West are confident about their prospects over the coming 12 months, according to a new survey.

Research carried out by Tindall Perry Partnership, the Manchester-based finance recruitment consultancy, found that 80% of the region’s companies believe their turnover will increase this year, with close to half (49%) predicting a rise of between 5% and 15%.

Just under a third (29%) have forecast their turnover to grow between 1% and 5%, while a fifth of respondents (21%) are confident their turnover will increase by more than 15%.

Elsewhere, 35% of survey respondents cited improving profitability as their key concern for the coming year and 30% pointed to greater levels of competition as a potential barrier to growth.

Other challenges cited included maintaining staff retention and the impact of wider economic uncertainty.

North West businesses also appeared to be ramping up recruitment efforts in 2016, with the majority (69%) reporting plans to grow their workforces and a further 56% planning to hire at management level.

Tindall Perry’s managing director, Leyla Tindall, said: “The last few years have been challenging but it certainly feels like the North West business community has turned a corner.

“Our research – and the daily conversations that we have with our clients – shows there’s real positivity and optimism in the marketplace across many sectors.

She continued: I think 2016 is going to be an interesting year and it will be fascinating to see how things change over the coming months.

“My prediction is that companies with a clear strategy and a collective vision amongst their senior leadership teams will be the ones that really forge ahead as growth is now not a certainty, it needs to be planned for.”

To carry out the survey, Tindall Perry approached 500 North West companies of various sizes spanning the manufacturing, leisure, retail, professional services and construction sectors.