Construction firms least confident about post-recession growth

Construction firms are the least confident of all businesses across the sectors about growth prospects in the next six months, even if government figures from June to September are expected to show an overall growth of the UK economy and spell out the end of the recession.

56 percent of the construction firms included in the business confidence report released by banking group Santander witnessed a profit drop in the first half of the year; 21 percent reported a 10-20 percent decline in the first six months and 28 percent saw their profits drop by more than 20 percent.

At the same time, 12 percent of the construction firms had a rise of more than 20 percent, while four percent reported a 10-20 percent increase.

According to the survey, only 15 percent of the construction and building businesses are very confident, 58 percent are confident, 24 percent are not very confident and three percent are not confident at all that their profits will increase. 22 percent of the construction firms cited forward orders as the main indicator of confidence.

“Our research indicates that there is a lower level of confidence and optimism amongst construction and building services businesses compared with other sectors,“ said Steve Paterman, head of Santander Corporate Banking. “It is important that the banking sector supports these businesses and helps them to turn their confidence into profits. Banks need to learn from the downturn and build stronger relationships with their customers in order to provide solutions that will help their stability and growth.”

Find the latest construction jobs on our job board.