by Phil Pitt

Two new surveys into Kent business confidence paint an interesting picture of the county’s economic prospects.

Both suggest it is too soon to suggest the county is emerging from the financial doldrums.

The Federation of Small Businesses conducts a respected survey twice a year into business confidence across Kent. Among its findings was a higher proportion of Kent businesses forecasting declining prospects, compared to the UK average.

"When compared to the same time last year, the situation has improved for small businesses, but most of these were made in the first six months," said the FSB’s Kent organiser Andrew Aves.

"There has been very little significant change since May of this year in confidence, sales or staffing over the past six months.

"Some 16 per cent of responses anticipated an increase in business prospects, the same as the rest of the UK. Nationally 25 per cent of responses forecast declining prospects but here in Kent, the figure is worryingly significantly higher at 37 per cent," said Mr Aves.

Not surprisingly sales was the number one headache reported by FSB members, followed by the usual concerns around the cost of red tape as well as operating costs - fuel and energy in particular.

Some 365 FSB members across Kent took part in the survey.

Another survey, conducted for Kent’s Business Link, found that 20 per cent of retailers in the county were not confident they would survive the recession.

In addition, one in four had seen a drop in customer numbers and about half reported customers spending less over the past 12 months. As a result some 55 per cent had responded to the fall in business by discounting.

Tony Logan, adviser manager at Business Link, said retailers which also had a website, could boast a broad customer base and enjoyed loyal customers expressed the most confidence for the future.

"Business Link can help retailers identify areas of improvement to attract more customers, increase spend per customer or improve their stock," said Mr Logan.