Survey highlights challenging trading conditions for local businesses but help is available
Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Buckinghamshire Business First’s latest Business Barometer survey shows the second quarter of 2022 brought a negative change to trading conditions and business performance for respondents, undoing some of the progress achieved following the end of Covid restrictions.
The Barometer asked Buckinghamshire businesses about areas where they are seeing rising business costs and their severity. All businesses that responded to the survey experienced a rise in business costs in at least one of the 13 areas identified. More than half (57%) experienced surging business costs in at least six or more areas.
In terms of those business cost increases, energy and goods/materials stood out as particular concerns. Furthermore, the cost for areas such as energy and goods/materials have become substantially worse in less than a year.
The impact of the rise in costs translates into price increases for the goods and services provided by the majority of respondents, the greatest proportion of which having implemented, or intend to implement sustainable long-term price increases for 12 months or longer.
The Barometer also asked Buckinghamshire businesses what their plans are for the next three months. Responses given contrasted with the encouraging improvements shown for the previous quarter, thereby reflecting the current uncertainty for businesses.
For instance, only 55% of respondents intend to invest in marketing/advertising over the next three months, this is down from 76% the previous quarter. Similar negative changes are reported across the majority of areas, the largest of which being a halving in the proportion of respondents intending to invest in equipment and machinery. Of concern is also the number of respondents that intend to decrease their headcount, with only 34% intending to increase headcount, down from more than half (53%) in the previous quarter.
Philippa Batting, Managing Director, Buckinghamshire Business First, said: “The Business Barometer results help us ensure effective support is in place to support our business community in these economically challenging times. Help is at hand for businesses that are experiencing tough trading conditions with our broad range of business support packages, grant funding and advice.”
Representing more than 40% of the county’s businesses, and more than 70% of the county’s private sector employees, Buckinghamshire Business First provides its 14,000 members with knowledge, support and opportunities for growth, which in the current economic climate is needed more than ever. For further information, please visit: www.bbf.uk.com/ or call the team on 01494 927130 or email BusinessSupport@bbf.uk.com
James Moorhouse, Economic & Labour Market Analyst at Buckinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “As with each Business Barometer survey, the aim is to know how businesses have fared in the last few months in order to help build a picture of the needs and opportunities that exist in the Buckinghamshire business community. This valuable insight into the local economy is fed into our conversations with Government and other stakeholders to ensure the voice of Buckinghamshire firms is being heard nationally.”
Full findings from the Barometer survey for the second quarter of 2022 can be found on the Buckinghamshire Economic Intelligence Observatory.