UK firms confident about future

UK businesses are positively giddy with excitement about future economic growth prospects over the next 12 months.

It seems they're so full of the joys of late spring, that many are preparing to invest in IT now so that they are ready to cash-in on this future growth.

So says a survey by IDC and Microsoft which reveals that the effects of the downturn has been patchy with some companies feeling little pain from recent economic conditions.

In a joint study of 550 major European companies, 60 per cent of UK outfits reported that they had seen little negative impact from the recent economic conditions, with 56 per cent predicting they would see an improvement over the next year.

The report also found that over the last year more than half of UK businesses have increased their spending on IT, with many spending their cash on systems designed to improve business efficiencies and processes.

While the UK seems to have survived the downturn relatively unscathed, the report found that Germany has been hit badly with half of businesses saying that they had been affected.

However, 6 per cent of German businesses believe the economy will pick up over the next 12 months. Which is nice. ®