The Small Business Confidence Index from the Bank of Scotland shows that UK businesses are “optimistic” about their performance during 2007.

The index looked at five different issues; economic outlook, intended recruitment, predictions of turnover growth, customer demand and the ease of running the firm. There were mixed results regarding the outlook for these different areas.

40% of companies thought that economic conditions in the UK would get worse over the next 12 months, although many companies were very confident about their own business’ performance.

Head of Bank of Scotland business banking, Kevin Gillett, stated: "Whilst many owner-managers anticipate an economic downturn, the majority are confident in their own abilities to ride out any storm and prosper in the coming months”.

Almost 25% of companies predicted 10% growth or more during 2007, with only 38% predicting zero or negative growth.