Small business group ISME has described the results of the latest survey of its members as 'extremely worrying'. It says business confidence appears to have deteriorated sharply over the last three months.
44% of the 500 firms surveyed are less optimistic than previously about their prospects, up from 26% in the previous survey three months earlier. ISME said this reversed a trend which had been improving since spring last year.
Only a quarter of firms expect business conditions to improve over the next 12 months, down from 40% in the last survey. Almost half expect conditions to worsen.
ISME said the retail sector was the most pessimistic, with construction the only category to record a slightly positive figure.
Two-thirds of all firms surveyed say current conditions threaten their viability over the next 12 months.
ISME said companies were continuing to shed jobs, with little hope of job creation for the foreseeable future. 30% of firms expect to cut jobs over the next year, with only 12% expecting to hire more staff.
The survey shows that levels if investment by companies are static, while more than 60% say their sales have fallen. ISME says the only positive in the survey is an improvement in the value of exports.
When asked what their main worry was, 35% of firms said 'economic uncertainty', while 'reduced orders' was next with 19%.
ISME head of research Jim Curran said people were crying out for 'clarity and certainty', and it was essential that the Government's four-year budgetary plan outlined a 'clear path' for putting the economy back on track.
