One in five (21 percent) executives report that they have significantly less access to credit in the last quarter and seven per cent slightly less access. Only 19 per cent report much greater or moderately better access to credit. Fifty one per cent report no change in their access to credit in the last quarter. Retailers are in the worst situation with 40 per cent having less access, 20 per cent with better access and only 38 per cent with no change in credit access.
Rising business-to-business payment days are still having a negative impact on four in ten (40 percent) firms, a rise of 5 per cent in one month. Dun & Bradstreet’s Trade Payment Analysis of the more than nine million current accounts receivable records contained on the D&B database - reveal that a deterioration in payment terms (2.1 days) in the December 2009 quarter has taken terms up to 53.9 days.
Thirty eight per cent of firms surveyed rank interest rates as the major influence on their business and 37 per cent consider wages growth to be their primary concern. Only 11 per cent of executives believe fuel prices will be the primary influence on operations in the quarter ahead. This is a fall of 12 per cent since last month and reflects the recent fall in petrol prices back towards the levels at the end of 2009.
With the rising improvement in profits expectations, 36 per cent of executives plan to reduce their current business debt levels in the next three months, 18 per cent reduce significantly and 18 per cent moderately. Nineteen per cent expect to increase their business debt and 43 per cent plan to maintain current debt levels.
According to Dr Duncan Ironmonger, Dun & Bradstreet’s economic consultant, the latest D&B survey shows Australian business executives have very strong expectations for their firm’s business performance in 2010. Some indicators are at their highest levels in more than five years.
“Expectations for growth in sales are the highest in six years. These are boosting profits expectations, so executives have raised their intentions to make strong increases in staff numbers, capital investment and inventories,” said Dr Ironmonger.
“The latest national accounts for December quarter 2009 show a third consecutive quarter of much stronger trend growth in real GDP after three quarters of virtually no growth. However, part of the strong growth was due to government incentives for investment in vehicles and for first home owners. Although these ended on 31 December, other fiscal stimulus measures are still in place and below average interest rates still provide a monetary stimulus.
NTP Forklifts Australia has recently launched two new ranges of Jungheinrich battery electric counterbalance forklift trucks into the Australian market.
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The new Nuvi 465T speciality trucking GPS from Garmin has all the features of an in car GPS, along with specialised routing options and truck friendly points of interest
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In today's busy material handling world the demand on productivity is high. This often increases risk. Bearcat Tyres can solve some of the daily issues by way of their Tyre Watch tyre pressure monitoring systems - or TPMS
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An exciting opportunity with substantial earnings potential if you can convert business opportunity into new revenue streams is available in our WA and QLD office.
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