The Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Business Barometer for November shows that levels of confidence among firms in the Humber and Yorkshire rose by 18 points over the course of the month.

The firms in this region that Lloyds spoke to indicated that they are anticipating their levels of business activity to stay roughly the same throughout the upcoming year. The last time that Yorkshire firms told the Business Barometer that they were expecting no decline in their levels of trading was back in March, before the scale of the COVID-19 crisis became clear.

When this more optimistic prediction of business activity for the coming year is combined with their expectations for the wider economy in the UK, the result is a -11% headline confidence level among Yorkshire companies for November.

Talking to Insider Media, Lloyds Bank’s Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Director, Steve Harris, said that the overall levels of confidence expressed by the firms in the area had risen by more than in any other part of the country, adding:

“This is encouraging to see alongside major improvements to trading prospects and hiring intentions, especially against a backdrop of national lockdown restrictions.”

There was also a drop of 20 points in the number of Yorkshire and Humberside companies that expect to have to lay employees off compared with the month before. Firms that are looking to find ways of reducing overheads without having to cut back on staff can always get financial advice from specialist accountancy services in South Yorkshire to help with that.