Businesses in the North West have entered the New Year with increased optimism in their prospects and the wider economic picture, according to the findings of Lloyds Bank’s Business Barometer survey.
Published at the end of December 2024, the high street bank found businesses nationwide had rising optimism in the state of the UK economy for the first time since August, while in the North West, business confidence rose on the previous survey. Business owners in the North West were also the most confident about their firms’ prospects of any region in the UK outside the capital.
Construction and retail were the two sectors of the economy most positive about their prospects for 2025, each seeing a 10 percentage-point jump in business confidence compared to the previous Business Barometer Survey. Optimism in the construction sector remained the same as in the previous survey, while the services sector bucked the trend, and reported an 11 percentage-point drop in business confidence.
Jenny France, area director in the North West at Lloyds, commented:
“It’s hugely encouraging that North West businesses are entering 2025 with such widespread positive expectations for growth. And it’s great to see their staff at the heart of their plans through planned investment in training – something that can deliver long term benefits for all involved, and strengthen the North West economy as a whole.”
The fieldwork for the Lloyds Bank Business Barometer was conducted during 28 November ? 12 December 2024 by BVA BDRC. Results have been drawn from the online responses of 1,200 businesses, weighted to match proportions by sector, region and size of the total business population.
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