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Business confidence in the East Midlands fell 13 points during September to 39%, according to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.
However, companies in the East Midlands reported higher confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, up seven points at 57%. When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, which dropped 31 points to 22%, this gives a headline confidence reading of 39% (vs. 52% in August).
Looking ahead to the next six months, businesses in the East Midlands identified their top target areas for growth as investing in their team, for example through investing in training (45%), evolving their offering, with the introduction of new products or services (42%) and entering new markets (36%).
The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide.
National picture
Overall UK business confidence in September dipped slightly, to 47%, down from August’s 50%.
Though there was a marginal increase in their own trading prospects (up two points month-on-month to 54%), firms’ confidence in the overall economy dropped nine points to 38%.
The joint-most confident regions in the UK were the West Midlands and London, both reporting overall confidence of 59%. Only
 link source - East Midlands Business Link General https://www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk/mag/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Dave-Atkinson-Lloyds-Bank-scaled-e1647599013198.jpg