A majority of Kent firms in financial and business services fear the economic slump will affect them, according to a survey.

Fifty-seven per cent of polled organisations said they were concerned about their business over the next two years.

But the survey for Locate in Kent, the agency that promotes the county as a great place for business, also found that 29 per cent were still performing well and growing.

Just under half of respondents (45 per cent) felt their businesses had suffered as a result of economic downturn, but a further quarter responded that it had had no effect.

Nearly a third (32 per cent) of respondents were confident their business would grow over the next few years, and one in five felt confident about a recovery in the coming months.

Companies in the business services sector seemed to be faring better, with 36 per cent of companies performing well, compared to 22 per cent in the financial sector.

A quarter of companies felt their prospects are better for being based in Kent rather than elsewhere in the UK.

Companies said the biggest issues they were likely to face when the economic outlook improved would be cashflow, cost of finance, lack of client and consumer confidence, red tape and legislation, and the possibility of a slow recovery in the housing market.

Paul Wookey, LiK chief executive, said: "These results are not surprising given that we cannot get away from the hard economic truths we are facing.

"However there are some very encouraging results from this report; the fact that Kent’s location and solid transport links were so positively rated, gives us good reason to be optimistic about the future.

"The improved links to central London will serve the county well as it looks to leverage opportunities such as the Olympics. Access to international markets will become an essential lifeline for a number of companies, underlining the importance of transport links in terms of business location choice."

One hundred firms across the county were contacted by telephone in October for the survey.