More West Midlands firms plan to hire, despite confidence dip - report 

Business confidence in the West Midlands fell nine points during April to 53 per cent, according to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds. 

Companies in the West Midlands reported lower confidence in their own business prospects month-on-month, down 15 points at 55 per cent.

When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, down two points to 51 per cent, this gives a headline confidence reading of 53 per cent (vs. 62 per cent in March).  

However, a net balance of 48 per cent of businesses in the region expect to increase staff levels over the next year, up nine points on last month.  

Looking ahead to the next six months, West Midlands businesses identified their top target areas for growth as investing in their team, for example through training (53 per cent), introducing new technology (43 per cent) and entering new markets (40 per cent). 

The Business Barometer, which surveys 1,200 businesses monthly and which has been running since 2002, provides early signals about UK economic trends both regionally and nationwide.  

Overall, UK business confidence fell ten points in April to 39 per cent.  

Firms' optimism in their own trading prospects dropped seven points to 50 per cent, while their confidence in the wider economy fell 13 points to 28 per cent.  

The North East was the most confident UK nation or region in April (59 per cent), followed by the West Midlands (53 per cent) and the North West (52 per cent).  

Confidence fell across the four broad sectors. Manufacturing confidence remained broadly unchanged from last month, falling by one point to 38 per cent, while the construction sector saw the largest decrease in business confidence this month, declining 22 points to 26 per cent.

Retail confidence also fell by 13 points down to 45 per cent and the service industry fell seven points to 40 per cent, both now at three-month lows.  

Dave Atkinson (pictured), regional director for the West Midlands at Lloyds, said: “While business confidence has dipped this month, our region is still one of the UK’s most confident and significantly ahead of the UK average.  

“Importantly, more firms are also planning to grow their teams. This speaks to the resilience and ambition that we see every day within our community. As businesses press ahead with their growth plans, we remain fully committed to helping them achieve their goals.” 

Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist, Lloyds Commercial Banking, said: “With the announcement of global tariffs from the United States on 2nd April and the market volatility that followed, it is unsurprising that business confidence saw an impact this month.   

“However, economic optimism remains higher than at the beginning of the year, showing businesses’ resilience in the face of recent challenges and overall confidence is still well above the long-term average of 29 per cent, an average taken from over 20 years of analysis."