July Small Business Momentum Survey
Costs, cashflow and mental health are weighing on confidence
10 August, 2022
While small businesses have become less concerned about the impact of COVID-19, the emergence of new challenges mean they are navigating a complex and challenging environment, according to the latest Small Business Momentum Survey.
The percentage of businesses indicating they were fairly or extremely confident about their prospects declined from 33.6% to 29% between the June and July surveys, the second month of falls. Before this, confidence had been rising since February 2022.
Business costs, cashflow and mental health issues were the top three concerns for small businesses, the results partly reflecting the impacts of increasing interest rates.
Despite these challenges, more than one in three businesses (37.5%) indicated they plan to expand their operations, with 52.1% of those planning to hire additional staff.
The percentage of businesses expecting an increase in revenue and profit over the next three months dipped two percentage points to 11.1%, with 35.9% expecting no change.
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