Business Tendency Survey report September 2018

Produced by the Statistics Jersey (Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance)
Authored by Statistics Jersey and published on 17 Oct 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 September 2018:

• the headline all-sector business activity indicator was +21 percentage points (pp); this means the proportion of businesses reporting an increase was 21 pp greater than those reporting a decrease
  
• the business activity indicator decreased slightly over the last three months
  
• six out of the eight current indicators were positive; the exceptions were the profitability indicator (neutral) and the input costs indicator (negative)
  
• the overall picture was relatively unchanged since last quarter; all indicators changed by less than 10 pp
  
• while the profitability indicator was neutral (-2 pp) overall, it was positive (+20 pp) for the finance sector and  negative for the non finance sector (-12 pp)
  
• over half (56%) of companies reported higher input costs, producing a strongly negative indicator of  53 pp; this was more pronounced for non-finance companies, which had a balance of -65 pp, compared with -27 pp for finance companies
  
• the outlook for future business activity was positive (+21 pp) overall, with the finance sector being strongly positive (+49 pp) and non-finance slightly positive (+9 pp)
  
• the future employment outlook was positive (+17 pp) overall, and was also driven by the more positive finance sector (+24 pp, compared with +14 pp for non-finance)
  

Business Tendency Survey September 2018