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Small businesses seeing increase in sales

Jul 14 2009

Small businesses in the hotel, restaurant and retail sectors are seeing an improvement in sales compared to the last quarter.

According to a survey by The Open University Business School, hotels and restaurants reported an increase in sales of 27 per cent, compared to -20 per cent in its last quarterly survey, with retail up to 23 per cent from -27 per cent.

Colin Gray, professor of enterprise development at The Open University Business School, says: ‘These second quarter results show the mood of UK small businesses as one of cautious optimism. The decline appears to have slowed and may be levelling out.’

Of the 848 small businesses surveyed, 61 per cent reported that a fall in demand is the biggest factor affecting their businesses, while 33 per cent said payments from debtors was an issue, with 31 per cent saying government regulations were their biggest problem.

However, according to the survey small construction firms are still reporting poor sales of -38 per cent.

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