The results of the September 2018 Business Tendency Survey have been released by Statistics Jersey.
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)