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 March 2017:

• the headline all-sector business activity indicator was +18 percentage points (pp); this means the proportion of businesses reporting an increase was 18 pp greater than those reporting a decrease
• the business activity indicator was marginally lower than three months ago, when it was +20 pp
• six out of the eight current indicators were positive; only profitability and input costs were negative
• the product prices and business optimism indicators were both positive and improved from last quarter
• the all-sector profitability indicator declined by 5 pp to -16 pp; a third (33%) of companies reported decreased profits and half (50%) reported no change
• the profitability indicator was negative for every sector, but particularly for non-finance companies
• the majority of companies reported higher input costs (producing a strongly negative indicator), particularly in the non-finance sector, where almost two thirds (64%) of businesses saw higher costs
• the last time such a large proportion of companies reported increased input costs was in 2011
• there was little movement in the current indicators compared with three months ago; no indicator changed by more than 10 pp
• the finance sector was more positive than the non-finance sector; all indicators relating to the current situation were more positive for the finance sector, except for product prices, which were the same

Future outlook (next 3 months)

• the outlook for future business activity was strongly positive, with the finance sector being more positive than other sectors
• the outlook for future employment was slightly positive; a large majority of companies expected no change