The CFIB Small Business Barometer outlook survey has been released for January of 2015 - a consistently informative look at some of the most important trends and concerns for business owners across Canada, it charts "optimism" among businesses as well as a slate of other key metrics commenting on business health and growth. The index marked 63.5 on a scale where a rating above 50 means owners expecting their business’ performance to be stronger in the next year
January's report saw sentiment sliding significantly in some provinces, and climbing steadily in others. Overall, however:
"owners who say their businesses are currently in good shape outnumber those who say the opposite by a margin of more than four to one"
Of particular interest is the set of statistics relating to capital investment. The survey showed that 21% of respondents cite shortage of working capital as a limitation on sales or production growth. Only 55.3% of businesses surveyed intend to spend on capital improvements in the next three months. In a challenging economic climate where capital investment ranks highly among the challenges facing small businesses, access to capital is becoming more important than ever. At Merchant Advance Capital we are committed to helping businesses find solutions to access working capital in a sustainable way in order to help meet their goals, create better sentiment and influence local economies for the better.
