Small to medium businesses in the finance and insurance sector have experienced the strongest profitability over the last quarter, according to the Sensis Business Index.
Researcher Christena Singh said the latest quarter report of small and medium businesses in Australia saw the return of the high levels of business confidence seen before the economic downturn. The 100 finance and insurance businesses surveyed (as part of a 1,800 sample interviewed) between October 30 and November 30 showed strong trading conditions, and had the highest sales and profitability results for the second successive quarter. However, there has been a step back in the business confidence levels, which although still above average at 55 per cent, were 11 per cent lower than the last quarter.
“[Over the past few quarters] we have seen confidence in the finance and insurance sector really quite strong, coming out of the difficult financial situations of the past two years. We saw confidence pull back a bit this quarter, but there was very strong performance irrespective of that,” said Singh.
Looking ahead, she said that across the board businesses are expecting growth in the next year, but the expectations of the finance and insurance sector are seven points above the overall average across all sectors.
“We’re seeing profitability expectations at 49 per cent, which is 2 per cent below the average, so we are seeing some moderation there in terms of expectations of the year ahead.”
Singh said while the finance and insurance sector’s highs and lows are relatively much greater compared to other sectors, she agreed that it is taking advantage of a lot of opportunities in the upturn.
