The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) have today released their latest Quarterly Business Trends Survey which shows a decline in the exports sector and an overall decline in profitability expectations for the SME sector. 

However, there are improvements in the overall confidence indicator index with positives in 5 of 12 areas. The Trends report also looks at pay in the SME sector. As expected, economic uncertainty and Brexit are the biggest concerns for SMEs in 2017.
 
The survey was conducted in the last week of March with almost 1,000 SME respondents, 43% of whom employ less than 10; 43% employ between 11 and 49; and the remaining 14% employ between 50 and 250. Geographically, 28% were from Dublin; 58% are spread across the rest of the country; and 14% have multiple sites.
 
Brexit and economic uncertainty remain the biggest concern for SMEs in the first half of this quarter. Brexit in the first quarter overtakes economic uncertainty as the biggest challenge for SMEs. This increase was expected due to the triggering of Article 50 in March.           

Fifty five per cent of SMEs will increase pay of up to 5%, 35% of businesses will not increase pay this year while 4% of businesses will reduce pay this year. Only 5% of businesses will increase pay by more than 5%.

Commenting on the results, ISME CEO, Neil McDonnell said, "While the improvement in confidence since Q4 2016 is welcome, economic uncertainty and Brexit remain the biggest challenges for SMEs, especially those involved in exports. Since our last trends survey report, Article 50 has been triggered. We have seen a drop in current and forecast exports, the latter dropping by 19% on Q4. Profitability expectations have also dropped."

Source: www.businessworld.ie