Business confidence grows - but slowly

The latest Deloitte & Touche/CBI survey shows that confidence amongst business and professional firms is on the rise, but more slowly than it was last spring.

The amount of business being done is also rising, but despite that, many companies expect a further slowing of the rate of growth through the rest of the year. Rising costs are holding back profitability, the survey found, and the year 2000 is being viewed with some trepidation.

Nevertheless, many business and professional firms are still growing in terms of staff numbers. Many also expect to go ahead with investment in IT, mainly in order to expand capacity and increase efficiency.

Elliott Chase