Businesses in Wales are feeling confident for the New Year after latest figures revealed that export sales are on the rise, according to findings from the Chambers of Commerce in Wales.
The Quarterly Economic Survey, released today (07 January 2016) by the South and Mid Wales Chambers of Commerce and the West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce, has revealed that more businesses are reporting improving export sales (39.4%), an increase of 3.9 percentage points compared with the third quarter of 2015.
The survey, which monitors the performance of businesses across Wales and acts as an indicator for the strength of the Welsh economy, also showed that the number of businesses reporting a decrease in export sales has fallen by 6.9 percentage points, from 27.1% in quarter three to 20.2% at the end of the year.
Almost half of all businesses (46.3%) reported that they expected profits to rise during the next 12 months and fewer organisations stated that they expected them to fall (down by five percentage points to 18.7%).
Commenting on the latest figures, Keith Palmer, CEO of the South Wales Chamber of Commerce, said: “At the end of quarter three, we were concerned that Wales was suffering a deceleration in economic growth due to a slowdown in export sales and orders for the second quarter in a row. However, these concerns have not been borne out and exports sales have accelerated in the final quarter of 2015, with almost twice as many businesses reporting increasing export sales than decreasing ones.
“As well as this, the number of businesses predicting that their profits will increase next year is up, which indicates that there is growing optimism among Welsh businesses for 2016.”
Of the companies surveyed, 42.7% stated that they had recruited during the last three months. Recruitment challenges, however, remain an issue for Welsh businesses, with 62.7% reporting that they had experienced difficulties in recruiting, a figure that has remained well above 50% since quarter one of 2014.
While more businesses have reported that they have decreased the amount that they invested in equipment and training, there were still more than a quarter of businesses reporting that they had increased this, standing at 29.1% and 26.9% respectively.
Mr Palmer continued: “Businesses have been telling us that they are struggling to recruit for the last two years so there is a great deal more that could be done to support those looking to enter the jobs market. It is vital that Welsh businesses are able to source talented staff and the skills gap needs to be addressed. We would like to see the this issue at the heart of the political agenda at this year’s Assembly elections to ensure that the next generation of Wales’ workforce is equipped with the right skills if we are going to build a sustainable Welsh economy.
“We do need to keep an eye on plans for investment in training and equipment which have dipped again this quarter, but so long as more businesses are reporting that they are increasing funding than decreasing it, it is not something that is hugely significant. As we enter 2016, businesses confidence seems positive and we must all keep working together to ensure that economic growth continues for Wales.”