The latest Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Business Expectations Survey for the December 09 quarter has revealed businesses are expecting a boost in sales in the coming months and are confidently planning a significant re-stocking of inventories.
The survey found that inventory expectations are the highest in five years with 20 percent of executives expecting to increase inventories in the December 09 quarter, while only 12 percent are planning to decrease stock levels.
Businesses have also upgraded their sales expectations, with 46 percent expecting an increase in sales in the December quarter, compared to 19 percent expecting a decrease. Profits are also expected to rise, with 31 percent anticipating a jump in profits in the December quarter.
Capital investment expectations have improved strongly, with 16 percent of firms expecting to increase investment. This comes off the back of recent ABS data which revealed that private gross fixed capital expenditure rose 1.9 percent in volume in the June quarter.
D&B CEO, Christine Christian said the positive results are an indication that executives have enough confidence in Australia’s recovery to believe that conditions will hold up as we head towards Christmas.
“We have seen a substantial improvement in executive expectations in recent months with key indexes such as inventories, capital investment, sales and profits all entering positive territory for the first time since September 2008 quarter.”
People who read this, also liked:
Australia safest country to do business: D&B
Businesses expect sales and profits to rise
