Page 10 - BOSS Today Issue 26

Boss Outlook

BOSS

OUTLOOK

Weak Sales And Confidence, But Outlook Remains Positive

OSS Outlook is the BOSS throughout 2014, with actual
Federation’s quarterly levels consistently riding
Boffice supplies and above forecasts throughout
services industry trends survey. the year. However, the actual
The report contains analyses of performance reported for Q3
the industry’s latest trends, with 2014 saw only 40% claiming that
quarterly forecasts and data the state of trade had improved
analysis on sales, output, business and 2% reporting that it had
confidence, employment, worsened (with the remaining
prices, costs, stock, margins, 59% claiming that there had
profits, productivity, investment, been no change), producing a
financing and credit conditions, modest positive balance of +38,
pay reviews, and original branded significantly below both the +85
printer cartridges. Research forecast for the quarter and the
for the latest edition of BOSS +86 actual balance recorded for
Outlook was carried out during Q2.
October 2014 and received However, ‘no change’ on
responses from companies previous positivity means
employing 3,088 people and continued positivity and, as
having a combined turnover of the chart above shows, the
£0.9 billion. vast majority of respondents
This quarter’s research found predicted a positive forecast
that the state of the trade balance for Q4 2014.
continues to be reported as The ‘top three business
positive, albeit less so than concerns’ expressed by
in the previous two quarters. respondents remain unchanged:
Confidence has been resolutely the most cited was ‘Survival
positive since the start of 2013, of Major Customers’ (56%,
and respondents had previously compared to 41% in Q2),
improved their reports further followed by ‘Competitor Pricing’

10 BOSS TODAY | February/March 2015

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