05 March 2008
The business services sector has seen the slowest growth since November 2003, and the firms are far less optimistic about the general business situation than they were three months ago, the CBI has warned today.
Although volume growth has been seen by all sub-sectors in the business and professional services sector, firms are not expected to expand their business more over the coming year, according to the CBI's latest quarterly Service Sector Survey.
Firms in property services saw strong expansion in volumes and employee numbers, while businesses in the office support services sector had cut their spend on training and IT.
Ian McCaffety, the CBI's chief economic advisor said that business services firms were doing what they could do insulate themselves from an economic slowdown "by focusing on increasing efficiency and seeking to reach new customers with new services."