Confidence high in latest FICA survey

1. Business confidence, December 2017

In December 2017, a total of 48 logging contractors were contacted on behalf of the Forest Industry Contractors Association. Participants were asked five questions relating to their business confidence over the next six months. Responses are shown below.

Commentary on the five business confidence measures

• Overall business confidence is high, with 93% of respondents expecting business conditions to stay the same or improve.

• 89% of respondents expect to maintain or increase their number of employees over the next 6 months. However, there has been a decrease from 50% to 39% in participants likely to increase the employee numbers from the previous survey. Only 5 contractors are expecting to decrease the number employees.

• The majority of contractors surveyed are planning machinery or equipment purchases, in which nearly half of those purchases are for replacement, and the other half is for expansion. 18% of contractors surveyed indicated no intention to purchase or sell, down from 25% in the previous survey.

• Only 10% of logging contractors believe that they do not get enough customer feedback.

• 93% of logging contractors would recommend the industry as a good place to work, the same as the July 2017 survey. Only two respondents would not recommend the industry as a good place to work.

2. Trends in logging contractor business confidence (June 2010 to Dec 2017)

Trends over time

Business confidence has slightly declined for logging contractors since the July 2017 survey due to the decrease in net positive scores for ‘employees’ and ‘business conditions’ (13% and 11% respectively). Fewer contractors are expecting to increase their number of employees, with half expecting to maintain the current number. Similarly, ‘business conditions’ have declined in net positive score due to half of the respondents expecting conditions to stay the same and less are expecting things to get better. ‘Recommendation’ has remained the same since the previous survey remaining at 90% net positive, respectively. This is the highest value observed since June 2010.

We have seen a marginal increase in both ‘feedback from customers’ and ‘investment’. ‘Feedback from customers’ is the highest (73% net positive) it has been since June 2010 when the survey was first undertaken. More contractors are purchasing for replacement than the previous survey.

Acknowledgements

Our thanks to all contractors who took the time to respond to the FICA survey.

c. Spending on capital equipment “Are you likely to be purchasing new machinery or equipment over the next six months, no plans to buy any equipment, or selling?”

a. Business conditions “Do you think conditions for your business are going to improve, stay the same or get worse over the next 6 months?”

d. Feedback from customers “Do you receive adequate information from your major customers so that you can plan for change in your business?”

b. Employees “Are you likely to increase, maintain, or decrease number of employee’s over the next six months?”

e. Recommendation “Would you recommend your industry as a good place to work?”

Note: the % net positive response is calculated as (% of respondents giving an optimistic response, minus the % of respondents giving a pessimistic response).