Business Tendency Survey report June 2018
Produced by the
Statistics Jersey (Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance)
Authored by
Statistics Jersey
and published on
18 Jul 2018
Prepared internally, no external cost
Summary
The quarterly Jersey Business Tendency Survey (BTS) provides timely, qualitative information about the Island’s economy.
Chief executives and managing directors are asked for their opinions on the current situation of their business compared to three months earlier and their expectations for the next three months.
In June 2018:
- the headline all-sector business activity indicator was +25 percentage points (pp); this means the proportion of businesses reporting an increase was 25 pp greater than those reporting a decrease
- the business activity indicator increased by 9 pp over the last three months
- six out of the eight current indicators were positive; the exceptions were the profitability indicator which was neutral, and the input costs indicator which was negative
- the only current indicator to change by 10 pp or more was profitability; in March this indicator was -9 pp, and rose to a neutral +1 pp in June
- the profitability indicator was positive (+17 pp) for the finance sector, but slightly negative for the non-finance sector (-5 pp), leading to a neutral +1 pp for the all-business indicator
- over half (55%) of companies reported higher input costs, producing a strongly negative indicator of 54 pp; this was more pronounced for non-finance companies, where almost two-thirds (64%) saw higher costs
- the outlook for future business activity was strongly positive (+25 pp), with the finance sector being considerably more positive than other sectors (+54 pp and +14 pp respectively)
- the future employment outlook was positive, and was also driven by the strongly positive finance sector
- the finance sector was positive about future profits and employment, with 86% of companies expecting increased profits for 2018 and two-thirds (64%) expecting to increase employment
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