Business optimism lower in Scotland

Scottish business confidence has risen for a second consecutive quarter, research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found.

However, FSB’s latest business index also revealed that, despite UK confidence falling over the past three months, business optimism is still lower north of the border than the UK average.

FSB said it had been two years since a majority of Scottish businesses were confident conditions would improve.

FSB’s latest Scottish business sentiment metric climbed to -3.8 points, up from -9.6 the previous quarter.

By comparison, the UK-wide figure fell to +15 points in the latest period, down from +20 at the start of the year.

FSB said the figures underlined the need for the UK Government to put backing small businesses and the selfemployed at the heart of its programme.

Andy Willox, the organisation’s Scottish policy convenor, said that meant reassuring employers about the future of their EU workers and not reintroducing recently-shelved plans for tax increases on the self-employed.

Mr Willox added: “A majority of Scottish businesses have been gloomy about their prospects for two years.

“While, over the course of 2017 a growing share of Scottish firms have shaken off the economic blues, we can’t dismiss this longterm trend.

“If we’re to turn these shaky confidence figures around in the longer term, we need to create an environment where more people are ready to take that plunge.”

The report showed that profit margins in Scotland continue to be squeezed.